Posted on February 1, 2023
Maersk has unveiled its new Southeast Asia to Australia network, designed to improve schedule reliability and boost supply chain resilience for the region. Putting customers and their needs first, this new network will improve port coverage and offer greater protection against congestion and disruptions.
The network’s configuration has been reimagined after a careful review that drew on insights from customers and exemplifies Maersk’s commitment to continuous improvement. It is inspired by the hub and spoke model, resembling a bicycle wheel with delivery routes (the spokes) converging on a single hub. The network will be made up of 16 ships across three services to minimise overlap, while providing the best possible coverage.
Although the worst of the disruptions seen during the COVID-19 pandemic have eased, some will persist, and new challenges will emerge. Maersk’s investment in the new network provides a substantial buffer to mitigate the impacts of disruptions.
Ocean transport is key to the Australian economy, and we are overly excited to bring improved supply chain solutions to our customers. This year marks our 30th anniversary in Australia and we are grateful for the strong local relationships and the trust from our customers over the past three decades. During the COVID-19 pandemic we have made significant investments in our network in Oceania to keep the supply chain moving. With the introduction of our new Australia/Southeast Asia network we will restore reliability and flexibility of our Australian customers supply chain. Our new network also offers a superior Australia costal connection to enable domestic trade routes and multimodal transport options for our customers in Australia.
The three services that comprise the new network will connect the five main Australian ports of Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle, Melbourne, and Sydney to the world via the ports of Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia. They are the Greater Australia Connect (GAC), the Eastern Australia Connect (EAC) and the Western Australia Connect (WAC).
The new services will replace the Cobra and Komodo services and will ensure critical connections to key international services are maintained. They simplify and connect customers’ end to end supply chain, while also future-proofing Australia’s international and domestic cargo connection.
What has been a fundamental change on the design of the network is that we have put ourselves into our customers’ shoes. The primary principle guiding us throughout this process was the impact on the customer and how, as their trusted logistics partner, we can proactively foresee potential risks and eradicate them. This new network will ensure we achieve exactly that – improving the reliability of our services and provide better protection in the event of disruptions.
We are really looking forward to activating this new and improved network, which puts our customers at the centre and delivers on our promise to them. It will also demonstrate agility and care in how we connect and simplify our customers’ supply chains.
