Coupled with a warning that freight rates would remain under pressure for the next 12 months, Maersk’s move amounts to a bid to compete aggressively on high capacity routes while avoiding slashing rates and starting a price war.
“This is a very, very strong move by Maersk,” said Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen. 
“If they can carry it out without a surcharge, as they say, I am sure that a lot of the volume that would probably be lost as a result of high capacity on the Asia-Europe route, will move to Maersk ships,” Pedersen said.
Maersk Line, the container shipping arm of Danish shipping group A. P. Moller-Maersk, said the new service dubbed “Daily Maersk” would be available from Oct. 24. The unit’s chief executive Eivind Kolding said it would create a “virtual conveyer belt between Asia and Europe.” 
The daily service will operate between Ningbo, Shanghai and Yantian in China and Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia, Felixstowe in the UK, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Bremerhaven in Germany, Maersk Line said. 
“Regardless of which of the four Asian ports the cargo is loaded at, the transportation time — from cut-off to cargo availability — is fixed,” Maersk said.
“Daily cut-offs mean that cargo can be shipped immediately after production without the need for storage.”
Maersk Line said that shipping lines serving the Asia-Europe trade are unreliable, with 44 percent of all containers late, 11 percent more than two days late, and 8 percent more than eight days late. 
“Maersk Line promises that cargo at the other end will be available for pick-up on the agreed date,” it said.
Maersk Line, which has a global market share of around 15 percent, promised compensation if cargo is late, but would not add a surcharge.
“No premium will be charged,” it said.
If delayed by one to three days, Maersk Line will pay back $100 per container, and if delayed by four days or more, the company will pay back $300 per container, it said.
“This creates a risk for Maersk’s business that now in principle one could risk a quarter with very high compensation,” Sydbank’s Pedersen said.
The global shipping industry, which tends to mirror macroeconomic trends, lost billions of dollars in 2009, rebounded in 2010, but this year has been hit by a renewed slowdown of growth and increased uncertainty.
Maersk Line Chief Executive Eivind Kolding said market conditions would remain tough for the next 12 months due to a ship glut.
“Overall the industry is suffering and will probably do so for some months,” he said in London. 
“Definitely it is going to be difficult to make good money in this environment,” he said on the sidelines of a briefing. 
He said Maersk Line had a 20 percent market share of the major Asia to Europe container route.
“With the big East-West trade being so big in the overall picture it does actually hamper the performance of the shipping lines,” he said. “Asia Europe is growing ... but the problem is we have too many ships in the short-run coming into the trade.”
HSBC on Monday cut its recommendation on A. P. Moller-Maersk’s shares to “neutral” from “overweight.”
“Container freight rates remain weak globally and growing capacity on Asia-Europe routes indicates that this weakness will continue for sometime,” HSBC said in a note.
“Risks to earnings still appear to be more on the downside, in our view.”