Maersk Line has cut Asia-to-Europe capacity by a tenth due to the global economic slowdown.

Maersk Line has cut Asia-to-Europe capacity by a tenth due to the global economic slowdown.

The world’s largest containership owner will chop its AE8 service from 10 November, confirming reports in TradeWinds print edition this week.

Maersk said: “The changes are made in light of the challenging market conditions.”

The temporary suspension of the AE8 service, between Le Havre and Yokohama, will reduce weekly capacity by 7,600-teu, it says.

It was rumored Maersk would lay up tonnage after cutting the service. But it is understood the ships are only temporarily idle, with the line ready to follow others and put ships into semi-layup over Christmas, TradeWinds newspaper reports today.

Conditions are bleak with Far East Freight Conference (FEFC) figures showing Asia-to-Europe trade shrinking 2.7% during the third quarter.

Maersk’s move comes hot on the heels of rival APL’s decision to slash Asia-to-Europe activity by a quarter as part of a major reshuffle.

The NOL unit will bin its China Europe Express (CEX) service from 2 November. It has also frozen its Pacific South Express 3 (PS3) service, the Pacific South West (PSW) run and the Singapore Subcontinent Express (SSX) service in the intra-Asian market.