Maersk Update on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

30 January 2024

Changes to our MECL services 

The situation in and around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden continues to be volatile. As the risk in the Red Sea is heightened, we are now making changes to our MECL service. Our priority remains the safety of our seafarers, vessels, and your cargo.

As announced on Friday 26th January, our MECL service will start going around the Cape of Good Hope. This means the following effective changes on the service:

Westbound: 

• MECL will maintain normal rotation in Middle East/Pakistan/India.
• Service will proceed from Salalah to Algeciras via Cape of Good Hope. 
• From Algeciras the usual routing to Newark will be applied.
• Changes will apply from Maersk Hartford, Port Qasim 27th February 2024
• Until Maersk Hartford the cargo from Middle East/India will be pre-carried by feeder to connect to MECL in Salalah 

Eastbound: 

• MECL will proceed from Newark to Algeciras, as usual. 
• The calls in Port Said and Djibouti will be removed. The cargo for Port Said will be discharged in Algeciras for further on-carriage. Djibouti bound cargo will discharge in Salalah for on-carriage to destination.
• After Algeciras, MECL will proceed around Cape of Good Hope to Salalah
• The change is in effect immediately. 

• The existing times for port calls and respective cut-offs will be maintained to the extent possible.
• Transit times between USEC and India/Middle East and vice versa will be extended by 1 or 2 weeks by this change.

For customers with existing bookings on affected MECL sailings, please feel free to reach out to your local Maersk representative regarding next steps. Our teams are on hand to support with your planning, should you need any assistance.

We understand the potential impact this may have on your logistics operations, but please rest assured that all decisions have been carefully considered with safety primarily in mind.

While we continue to hope for a resumption of a normal MECL service in the near-future and do all we can to contribute towards it, the situation currently remains untenable. We thank you for your understanding during these significant disruptions to the global network. 

Kindly supplied by Maersk