As more ships are being rerouted through the Cape of Good Hope, Maersk has felt the need to increase its fleet size. Since the shipping major had not aggressively expanded its fleet earlier, it is now adjusting to the rise in demand by chartering neo-panamax vessels from ONE and Wan Hai.
It has been reported that Maersk has chartered the 15,000 TEUs ONE Focus and the 13,100 TEUs Wan Hai A12. Maersk has put both the ships to the TP6 Far East-US West Coast service that is being jointly serviced in collaboration with its 2M partner Mediterranean Shipping Company.
The Wan Hai A12 is a newly built vessel by Samsung Heavy Industries, and was originally destined for Wan Hai’s Transpacific or Far East-South America services. Wan Hai officials said, “We will deploy our vessels according to the latest service plan. Adjustments by subletting/charter-in vessel are possible depending on our business plan.”
