Maersk Line Reaches One Million TEU Milestone in Port of Qingdao, China

15 November marked a significant milestone in the history of Maersk Line in North China, as the carrier was the first ever to reach a throughput of one million TEU in the Port of Qingdao in a single year.

The full-year estimate of Maersk Line’s throughput will be around 1.2 million TEU for 2012, which is around 37% more than the 873,000 TEU of 2011.

Growing market

Maersk Line’s presence in Qingdao has come a long way. As recently as 1994, the carrier only moved 10,000 TEU. In less than 20 years, this throughput has grown to a million.

In 2004, Maersk Line expanded the service in Qingdao to deploy direct calls for European trades, and later a service was launched between Qingdao and the US West Coast, further strengthening Qingdao’s competitiveness among other ports in North China. There are currently 10 Maersk Line global services calling at Qingdao.

Close relations with the port

2012 also marks the 120th anniversary of the Port of Qingdao. Having established trade relations with over 450 ports in more than 130 countries and regions across the world, the port is equipped to serve the largest vessels in the world. Today the Port of Qingdao Port is the eighth biggest port in the world.

For years, Maersk Line has established a good relationship with the Qingdao Port Group. As their best working partner, Maersk Line has been provided with better solutions such as berthing priority in the terminal operation to better serve its customers. This gives Maersk Line the benefit of economies of scale.

Toward the second million

“We will not take [our customers’] support for granted and we will continue to work closely with all of you to further enhance our services,” said Tim Smith, Head of Maersk Line’s North Asia Regin in a speech that marked the occasion. “Maersk Line will continue to strengthen our position in North China by further optimising our network as well as providing best in class care for our customers so that our valued customers, Maersk Line and the Port of Qingdao will prosper for years to come.”

Yang Ji Sheng, director of international trade from Aelous Tyre, one of Maersk Line’s large customers shipping out of Qingdao, says: “Maersk Line’s service stability is of top notch in the market and there are lots of things behind the brand to support this stability. We are looking forward to the moment when ML exceeds two million TEU a year and we would very much like to be part of this success.”