A.P. Moller - Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company have made changes to their services connecting Asia and Europe.

According to the two shipping lines, extra operational buffer times have been incorporated into the schedules to take into account worsening congestion. There will also be a net reduction of eight port calls, with minimal impact to product offerings through combining duplicate calls and other transhipment options.

Additionally, six extra vessels will be added across the 10 service strings in the network, with weekly deployed capacity remaining unchanged due to slower vessel speeds. The first westbound sailings are planned to begin in March 2019.

“To meet our customer’s increasing need for reliable cargo delivery, we have reviewed our service network and identified additional time to recover from the potential delays we continue to face from bad weather and other external factors,” said Johan Sigsgaard, head of Europe trade at A.P. Moller - Maersk. “I am confident that these service changes will improve our overall schedule reliability, and I look forward to service our customers with this upgraded product.”

The enhancements build on the relaunched Asia-Europe network introduced by the alliance partners in May 2018.