Maersk Line and Hamburg Sud will add a second string in their service between Asia, South Africa and the East Coast of South America in July in response to increased cargo demand during the peak shipping season.

The Danish and German ocean container carriers will each deploy five ships of 2,100 20-foot equivalent units capacity on the additional string.

The carriers said they intend to operate a second string through the peak season, which is expected to last until November. After that they will return to a single-string configuration.

The lines said they will co-ordinate the two strings to provide the most complete coverage in the trade with fast transit times between key port pairs.

Starting the first week of July the port itinerary will be Nagoya,Yokohama, Pusan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Sepetiba, Santos, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Navegantes, Paranagua, Santos, Singapore, Hong Kong, and ending back in Nagoya.

The rotation of the second string is Shanghai, Ningbo, Dachan Bay, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Durban, Santos, Itajai, Port Elizabeth, Durban, and returning to Shanghai.

Source: JOC