Maersk eyes growing India-US trade and adds Mundra call to MECL1

Maersk is attempting to garner a bigger share of the India-US market, which industry analysts believe has great potential due to the trade diversification in Asia. The Danish carrier is to introduce an enhanced MECL1 loop for shippers on the tradelane, positioning itself on a stronger footing to compete with leading carriers CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and MSC. MECL1 will lose a call at Algeciras in Spain and, instead, add a call at Mundra to the existing Nhava Sheva and Pipavav calls. The change is expected to begin in March.

APM Terminals Algeciras has been one of Maersk’s hubs for cargo moving to and from Africa, Europe and the Far East, so an omission there will enable the carrier to allocate more capacity for India.

Under the current rotation, MECL1 has stops at Jebel Ali, Port Qasim, Pipavav, Nhava Sheva, Salalah, Algeciras, Newark, Charleston, Savannah and Houston, available data shows. India-US trade is not covered by the new Gemini partnership between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, even though both reportedly have the flexibility to cooperate on other transshipment-centric routes, including their mainline sailings connecting over Sri Lanka’s Colombo port.

Hapag-Lloyd now has a standalone loop, the TPI, for the India-US east coast trade, after pulling out of consortium arrangements with CMA CGM. TPI offers a rotation of Port Qasim-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-New York-Norfolk-Savannah-Charleston-Port Qasim. CMA CGM is also alone for its premier Indamex connection, rotating Port Qasim-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-Colombo-New York-Norfolk-Savannah-Charleston-Port Qasim. MSC has two weekly sailings on the tradelane, but with longer transit times due to extended port coverage. Singapore-based ONE is another carrier with a growing appetite for India-North America trade, having also launched an independent string, known as WIN, in May 2024. But the service continues to have vessel gaps, causing sporadic blank calls.

All carriers have been struggling to match excess available supply with current demand, forcing them to keep adjusting rates downwards to gain as many bookings as possible. Average rates from Nhava Sheva or Mundra to North America have weakened to about $1,500 per FEU, a precipitous drop from the $11,000 shippers had to briefly contend with six months ago.