The Maersk Nansha, a container vessel that generates noise disturbance in communities around New Zealand, will return to Port Nelson for what is expected to be the vessel’s final voyage to the region on April 2nd. The news comes after Maersk’s announcement that their Coastal Connect service, which the Nansha operates under, will be phased out.
The service will be replaced with the Maersk Polaris service, which will see three dedicated vessels deployed, looping directly between Melbourne, Nelson, Timaru, Lyttleton and Auckland (Auckland fortnightly). The vessels include the Trieste Trader, with a carrying capacity of 1762 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent containers). The new service will be increased to weekly and provide improved transhipment options through Lyttleton and Melbourne onto the wider Maersk network, vastly improving connection for Nelson’s importers and exporters.
Port Nelson's Chief Executive, Hugh Morrison, welcomes the news after a successful collaboration between New Zealand ports and the shipping line to find a solution to performance issues relating to the vessel. “We are pleased to hear Maersk's decision to replace the Maersk Nansha with a new weekly service directly into Australia. The noise disturbance for our community was unacceptable, and the commitment from Maersk to improve its service has resulted in a positive outcome for our community and our region's importers and exporters.”
We had some great news at the end of March from Pacifica as outlined in their customer advisory (click here to view). Their revised coastal service into Nelson will give much more reliability and certainty for our importers and exporters as they reduce the number of ports called each week to 3. This will also help the volume of exports on Pacifica each week and empty containers coming to Nelson as they are able to stay longer to ensure all containers are exchanged. Get in touch with the team if you have questions about what this will mean for your cargo movements.
“Their revised coastal service into Nelson will give much more reliability and certainty for our importers and exporters as they reduce the number of ports called each week to 3.”