Maresk Line restructures Asia-Europe network

Maersk Line is planning several changes to its Asia-Europe network to provide customers with more cost-effective, robust, and reliable services.

In February and March 2008, Maersk Line will make various changes to its schedules and simultaneously add four vessels to its Asia-Europe network.

Port congestion has an escalating impact on Maersk Line's ability to provide reliable services to its customers. The addition of four vessels will enable them to incorporate additional buffer time in our schedules. To further support these efforts, Maersk Line will continue to work with the ports and terminals in addressing the congestion issues.

The changes will also enable Maersk Line to save on bunker fuel. In the last 12 months, bunker costs have more than doubled. The additional vessels and schedule changes complements other efforts to mitigate fuel costs and reduce the environmental impact of the comlany's services. While selected corridors will experience a day or two more in transit time, the overall expectation is that this will enable better service reliability.

Maersk Line had originally planned to add approximately 17% more capacity to the Asia-Europe trade during 2008. The above necessary measures substantiate a 5% reduction thus rounding off its overall capacity increase to approximately 12%.