Maersk vessel the Mathilde. The new direct service will involve several stops and take about 18 days per trip. (Photo: Maersk, Milind Balaji)

Maersk offers direct shipment service to California

Danish container shipping company Maersk Line launched its new direct service between Vietnam’s southern region and the US Pacific Coast on Thursday with a ship almost 400 m-long.

The Mathilde Maersk vessel can carry about 9,000 TEUs. It anchored at the SP-PSA International Port in Vung Tau 80 km south of HCMC near the mouth of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai River on Tuesday, and left for the US on Thursday.

The post-Panamax class vessel and 13 sister ships will sail from Vung Tau every Wednesday and arrive at Los Angeles, California, on Sundays 18 days later.

“This is a fantastic day for us,” asserted Peter Smidt-Nielsen, general director of Maersk Line in Vietnam, VietnamNet reports.

“We have worked intensively for more than a year to meet our customers’ demand for a direct call to the US West Coast, and the challenge has been to ensure safety and security when entering the Cai Mep-Thi Vai River, considering the size of the vessel and draft limitations,” he added.

Nielsen said the trans-Pacific cargo ships would transport shoes, garments, wood products, coffee and seafood, among other Vietnamese goods, to the US.

The new service will span between Vung Tau and California. (Map: Maersk/ FIS)

The ships will make stops at ports including Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia, Yantian, China and Hong Kong before reaching California. On their way back, the ships will call in at ports in Japan, China and Malaysia.

North and Central Vietnamese imports will continue to rely on feeder via Hong Kong and/or Tanjung Pelepas.

The new direct service is one of Maersk Line’s seven trans-Pacific routes offered through 500 container vessels, Smidt-Nielsen told.

“We are delighted to be able to improve Vietnam’s connectivity to the world with our big vessels, and this has positive implications for improvements in both cost efficiency and reliability,” said Jesper Praestensgaard, chief executive officer of Maersk Line, Asia Pacific.

He hoped the new service would help Vietnamese and US exporters and importers improve the potential of the growing market, he said.

Yet, Maersk would not reveal specifically how much exporters and importers would save by using the direct service.

The container shipping industry had suffered recently, Praestensgaard added, losing over USD 15 billion last year. Maersk lost USD 2 billion.

However, Maersk has seen positive results this Q1.

“I believe that containerized trade will continue to grow, and this offers great opportunities in an emerging market like Vietnam,” Praestensgaard said.

Related article:

- Maersk adds direct South Vietnam call

By Natalia Real
editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media

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