Maersk starts Chennai-US service

Maersk Line, a division of the Denmark-based A P Moller-Maersk Group and the world's largest container shipping line, has introduced direct weekly container services from the Chennai Port to the US East Coast.

The service, called MECL 2, would help exporters and importers to have their cargo delivered at the US East Coast, without transshipment at another port. This would reduce the transit time between the two destinations by about 10 days. Now, cargo from the Chennai port would reach US East Coast in about 24 days.

With the reduction in transit time, the consignees would be able to save on container handling charges at transshipment ports. Earlier, cargo out of Chennai used to be sent through feeder ships to Singapore or Colombo, where big 'mother' vessels would pick up the boxes and deliver at the US East Coast.

As part of the launch of the service, a 295-metre long mother vessel called Maersk Djibouti, with a capacity of 5,060 TEUs, arrived at Chennai Port on Saturday. This is the longest vessel that has ever arrived at the port.

The new service would have the port rotation of Chennai, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Salalah (Oman), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Gioria Tauro (Italy), Algeciras (Spain), Newark (US), Norfolk (US) and Savannah (US), and vice versa.

K Suresh, chairman of the Chennai Port, said the service would trigger manufacturing activity in and around Chennai. He also announced a concession of 15 per cent in marine charges for this mainline vessel service.

With the introduction of Maersk Line's new service, Chennai port is expected to transform into a transshipment hub for container cargo to and from Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Haldia and potentially Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Ganesh Raj, senior vice-president and managing director, subcontinent region, DP World, said the arrival of Maersk Djibouti, the mainline vessel, at the Chennai Container Terminal (CCT), the private container terminal operated by DP World, showed the efficiency of container terminals in India, especially on the east coast.

CCT has so far handled 832,000 TEUs and is expected to end this fiscal with a volume of 875,000 TEUs, a growth of about 20 per cent over the previous year.