Quoting the Alphaliner report from last week which identified the Copenhagen mega-liner as having the most boxships in lay-up mode, Maersk Line’s head of scheduling and deployment, Erik Rabjerg Nielsen, has explained the company’s strategy towards the idling of fleet.
He said: “We are continuously managing our capacity to meet market demands, especially on Asia-Europe.
“We are adjusting down to ensure that we have a cost-efficient network which enables us to serve our customers in a competitive manner.’
Explaining the 14 units for 94,000 slots currently inactive, he said: “The primary reason for the latest surge in idling is the removal of the AE9 service from the Far East to Europe, currently on hold until at least the end of November. Ten vessels have been pushed out from here.’
It was a point made by AP Møller-Maersk Group ceo Niels Andersen in connection with the Q3 financial results.
Andersen said during the telephone-conference presentation: “If you can’t fill your vessels, of course it is better to reduce your capacity. At least you save the cost.
“It is much better than going out in rate decreases.”
He added: “We have pulled quite a bit of market capacity out, so we definitely feel that we have done our share, having seen good results from it and now we expect others to behave responsibly as well.”
Moreover, apart from laying-up tonnage, Maersk Line has redelivered no less than 71 chartered boxships to their owners in the past few months.
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