KEY POINTS:
Maersk Line yesterday confirmed it is replacing its controversial Pacific Island feeder shipping service with a service between Auckland and the Pacific.
The Pacific Island feeder service called at Wellington, Napier, Nelson, Tauranga and Pacific ports but was facing a court challenge from unions and the coastal shipping lobby. They argued that it was essentially a local shipping service that popped up to the Pacific to avoid operating under New Zealand law and that it took freight from rail.
Maersk Line said its Pacific Islands service would be recon-figured, although it would continue to call at all nine New Zealand ports it now visited.
From July the Pacific Islands will be covered by a dedicated single vessel operating a fixed-day fortnightly rotation of Auckland, Noumea, Suva, Lautoka, Auckland. Wellington, Napier, Nelson and Tauranga will continue to receive other Maersk services.
Maersk New Zealand managing director Tony Gibson said the changes to the Pacific Island feeder service were part of continual improvements to enhance overall efficiency.
"We have a constant focus on the supply chain and are always looking to where we can extract improvements while at the same time meeting customer service expectations.
"Where we previously utilised our Pacific Island service to connect a number of New Zealand ports to our global network, we now achieve such connectivity through a combination of our main line services, local feeder and rail."
Maersk is the largest container shipping line in the world.
- NZPA
