November 22, 2006
Maersk Line announces North Island ports of call
Maersk Line today confirmed its preference is for Ports of Auckland to handle the majority of its North Island services.
Maersk New Zealand’s Managing Director, Tony Gibson, said while the final contract had not been concluded, Ports of
Auckland looked likely to get the significant share of the port calls. However, Tauranga would continue to handle three
of Maersk’s services.
“We recognise that the timing of this announcement coincides with public discussion surrounding waterfront development
in Auckland, however it is crucial that we indicate our preference so that our customers can plan their future shipments
with confidence,” he said.
“For booking purposes we have given exporters advance notice that our South East Asia hub service and the US East Coast
services will call at Ports of Auckland. Tauranga will maintain the current North Asia, US West Coast, the Pacific
Island services and the coastal feeder calls.
“Further delays in announcing our preference could have presented significant planning difficulties for North Island
exporters and importers making logistics and supply chain decisions for next year.
“We are still negotiating with Ports of Auckland to finalise contractual details, but expect these to be completed next
month and for the new schedule to be phased in from mid January.”
Maersk services will now run as follows:
The South East Asia service, hubbing through Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia and employing four vessels on a weekly basis,
will now call Auckland, Napier and Port Chalmers.
The US East Coast Service, involving nine vessels on a weekly basis, will call US East Coast, Auckland, Australia,
Auckland, New Plymouth, Timaru, Port Chalmers, returning to the U.S East Coast.
The feeder service for exporters and importers to the US East Coast service and Tanjung Pelepas service will call
Auckland, Tauranga, Lyttelton, Nelson, Wellington, Tauranga, Auckland and fortnightly to the Pacific Islands.
ENDS