Maersk Line plans to upgrade its network between Asia and North Europe during the third quarter of 2016.

According to Maersk, it will eliminate overlapping port pairs to reduce the number of direct port calls, so that reliability is increased and transit times are lowered.

“We are utilizing our scale to deliver a better product,” said Vincent Clerc, chief commercial officer of Maersk Line. “With the largest network and the deployment of an increasingly uniform fleet of ultra-large container vessels, we maintain our extensive direct coverage while focusing each service towards best-in-class transit times to specific markets on the trade.”

In particular, the shipping line will improve its offering to Germany and the Netherlands, reducing westbound transit times from major Asian markets to Bremerhaven and Rotterdam by as much as four days, and reducing transit time from Rotterdam to Shanghai by five days.

Maersk said that it was drawing on experience from its first year of operations in the 2M alliance with MSC.

“Our improved network is the result of a stable, maturing alliance seeking to address current customer-felt pain points,” said Clerc. “It strengthens our commercial offering and offers shippers a stable choice in times where other alliance networks await reshuffling.”