Maersk Line will launch a new fortnightly liner service to Papua New Guinea on May 30th. The PNG Express service will deploy two vessels: the 874 TEU Reecon Wolf and the 712 TEU Vega Fynen, with 314 and 220 reefer plugs respectively. The PNG Express port rotation will be: Tanjung Pelepas > Jakarta > Port Moresby > Lae > Madang > Tanjung Pelepas.
In order to ensure equipment availability and schedule reliability for the fortnightly service, Maersk Line will sail the Reecon Wolf on a full rotation of the service from Tanjung Pelepas departing on May 9th to position empty containers in Papua New Guinea Ports.
According to Bjarne Foldager, Maersk Line country manager for Malaysia and Singapore, Papua New Guinea is a growing trade partner for Malaysia and Singapore for both import and export, and the new PNG Express service will provide new opportunities to expand the containerised trade between Malaysia/Singapore and Papua New Guinea.
Maersk Line and service partner Hamburg Süd have announced the following changes to their service network:
The SAMMAX and Santa class vessels in the current ASAS service are currently being phased out. These vessels are custom built for this trade with a nominal capacity of 7500 TEU and 1,700 plugs.
In conjunction with this upgrade, the carriers will open a second service in July.
String 1: Operated with twelve SAMMAX/Santa vessels, will call at Busan > Shanghai > Ningbo > Yantian > Hong Kong > Tanjung Pelepas > Singapore > Santos > Itapoa > Buenos Aires > Montevideo > Rio Grande > Itapoa > Paranagua > Santos > Singapore > Hong Kong > Busan.
String 2: Operated with eleven PANAMAX vessels, will call at Shanghai > Nansha > Hong Kong > Singapore > Tanjung Pelepas > Durban > Suape > Sepetiba > Itajai > Santos > Port Elizabeth > Durban > Hong Kong > Shanghai.
