Week 20 – Middle East Operational Update

GEMINI Indian Ocean Service (IOS)

• All ships in IOS service will omit Jebel Ali port call following Gulf situation.

GEMINI Indian Subcontinent Med Express (IMX)

• All ships in IMX service will omit Jebel Ali port call following Gulf situation.
• Maersk Hanoi voy. 615W will phase out of service in Nhava Sheva on 18th May.

GEMINI Asia Gulf Express (AGX)

• AGX service is suspended following Gulf situation.          

GEMINI Asia South Europe 1 (SE4)

• First vessel call will be Maersk Elba voy. 611W/621E calling Jeddah on 16th May.

GEMINI Jeddah Loop 2 (JD2)

• Service suspended with last vessel GSL Tinos voy. 620W sailed from Jeddah on 11th May.

GEMINI Jeddah Loop 3 (JD3)

• Service will be suspended with last vessel Merkur Ocean voy. 619W sailing from Aqaba westbound on 14th May.

Middle East

• Jebel Ali – Operating as normal, conflict situation monitored.
• Jeddah – Operating as normal, conflict situation monitored.
• Salalah – Operating as normal, conflict situation monitored.

• Dammam – Bad weather impacting marine ops. Cases by case to plan, conflict situation monitored.
• Umm Qasr, Iraq – Bad weather impacting marine ops. Cases by case to plan, conflict situation monitored.
• Upper Gulf: Bad weather impacting terminal operations. Delays expected up to 24-48 hrs., conflict situation monitored

India

• Mundra, Kandla and Nhava Sheva – Operating as normal, however bad weather are forecasted, accordingly Ops slowdowns are expected.  
• Colombo – Up to 24 Hrs. delays expected for window vessels berthing until next few weeks, due to heavily impacted by seasonal bad weather impacts.

With your cargo planning in mind, we've upgraded our inland operations in India. With this change, you'll enjoy faster and more efficient services, a wider geographical coverage in India, and greater rate transparency, especially through our online products Quick Quotes and Quick Quotes Spot.

To guide you on this upgrade, which is starting on July 1, 2023,, here's a summary of your inland options:

1. Shipper's PDA: Empty pickup at port or Inland Container Depot (ICD) and handover at port. To access this service, select "Port of loading " and mention the "Pick-up at ICD". Please keep in mind that the empty pickup origin fee (POO) will apply and BL would only read port of loading and not “ICD location”
2. Rail ex-ICD (on Liner PDA): Empty pickup and container handover at an ICD. To access this service, please select "Received at terminal / ramp" and mention the handover ICD. Please note that rail pre-carriage charges (OLF) will apply. The empty pickup origin fee (POO) is included.
3. First Mile trucking: Hapag-Lloyd empty positioning and handover at ICD or port. To access this service, select "Received at your door" and detail the pickup location details. Please note that pre-carriage charges (OLF) for trucking and rail (for ICD movements) will apply. The empty pickup origin fee (POO) is included.
   To guide you through the scenarios and process, you can access the latest guide for inland bookings from India

The ongoing Suez Canal situation has resulted in changes and adjustments in the shipping industry, in particular for vessels in the Middle East and India markets where space on board vessels is limited. To alleviate that and to ensure you do not face issues when booking with us, we are implementing changes to our booking process with immediate effect:

1. Booking Window Restriction: our booking window within the scope of the Middle East* has been revised to three weeks. This means that you will be able to place bookings for up to three subsequent weeks available sailings. With this restriction, we are ensuring space availability options by preventing early bookings.
2. Booking Monitoring: we are working to ensure that all of our customers get an equal chance to load on our ships. Therefore, we're monitoring bookings for every vessel at a customer level and will discourage bulk bookings or bookings that exceed the mutually agreed quantity.
3. Booking Amendment Policy: with your cargo flow in mind and to ensure a clear overview of your cargo on our vessels, booking in advance will not be feasible. If you require amending a booking to a previous week's vessel , please cancel your existing booking and place a new one.
4. Last Minute Space Availability: to provide you with an extended opportunity to secure bookings, we will strive to keep our Quick Quotes Spot product open until the last minute.
5. Shipping Guarantee: when feasible, you can opt for our Shipping Guarantee product to protect your shipment from potential rollovers.
6. Track Your Shipments: you can use our track and trace feature to identify the vessel on which your cargo has been loaded. Due to the current circumstances, you can then view the latest updates and status of the assigned vessel directly on our Live Ticker. This link will guide you through the actual vessel status, including its next port of call.
   

While the Suez Canal situation is fluid, we are continuously working towards finding alternatives for your cargo planning. In case you would like to review the charges related to booking cancellations, amendments and other related local charges, please refer to our tariff section and select the country of your interest. If you should have any questions or comments, please reach out to our teams at your preferred location.

*The countries under the Middle East scope covered in this initiative are: United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Sudan, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.

• Reach out to your local customer service representative here