Vessel capacity deployed by the 2M Alliance lines (Maersk/MSC) on two of the four services operated by the lines on the Asia-Mediterranean trade has made significant increases during the first half of 2020.

The AE15/Tiger service has seen an increase over the six-month period from January to June of 19.9%, from a weekly capacity of 15,496 TEUs to 18,577 TEUs. Port rotation on the service is Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, King Abdullah, (Suez), Port Said East, Piraeus, Izmit, Ambarli, Tekirdag, Piraeus, (Suez), King Abdullah, Jebel Ali, Singapore, Shekou and Busan.

The AE11/Jade service has seen an increase over the same six-month period of 8.4%, from a weekly capacity of 19,350 TEUs to 20,967 TEUs. Port rotation on the service is Qingdao, Busan, Ulsan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Nansha, Yantian, Singapore, (Suez), Port Said East, Gioia Tauro, Barcelona, Valencia, Gioia Tauro, Port Said East, (Suez), King Abdullah, Salalah, Abu Dhabi, Jebel Ali, Singapore, Yantian and Qingdao.

Another of the four 2M Asia-Med services, the AE20/Dragon service, was suspended during May due to the downturn in the market brought on by Covid-19.

Over on the Asia-US trades, the 2M lines have confirmed they will continue to suspend the Asia-US East Coast service, known as the TP11/Elephant, at least until the end of the third quarter, with the last void westbound sailing at the moment being scheduled for mid-July (Week 28) from Asia.

Maersk and MSC opted to suspend the TP11/Elephant service in mid-April because of the pandemic, and the service will only be resumed in mid-July westbound, and Week 32 on the eastbound route returning from Freeport to Southeast Asia, assuming the market at the time is supportive of the decision. TP11/Elephant port rotation is Laem Chabang, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Colombo, Salalah, (Suez), New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Freeport, (Suez), Tanjung Pelepas and Laem Chabang.