Global shipping company Maersk Line has announced it will end its Trans-Pacific 5 (TP5) service from North Asia to the US West Coast from 15 January.
Maersk will also terminate its Taiwan express service with Evergreen Line from 31 December as part of a cost efficiency move to eliminate unprofitable routes, according to JOC.com.
The TP5 service between North China, South Korea and Japan to Los Angeles and Oakland has posted unprofitable results for nine out of the past 10 years, according to Maersk.
Drewry’s director of container research Neil Dekker told JOC.com that the closures would not have a significant effect on overall trade. Maersk intends to fill the gap in its service to North Asia, as a result of terminating its TP5 service, through its new 2M Alliance with MSC, to begin in January 2015.
