The Port of Felixstowe has welcomed the first call of Maersk Line's AE1 Asia-Europe service and the 28th daily train service from the Suffolk port.
The 6,600 TEU 'Sine Maersk' arrived at the UK's largest container port from Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia and is one of eleven ships of between 6,600 and 8,600TEU on the service.
A new daily rail freight service has been added to support the Asia-Europe service. Operated by Freightliner and dedicated to Maersk Line, the 24-wagon train provides a new daily scheduled connection to Birmingham International Freight Terminal at Birch Coppice. This increases the number of services Freightliner operates from the port to 21 per day and brings the number of inland rail terminals with a direct connection to Felixstowe to thirteen.
Chris Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Ports (UK), which owns the Port of Felixstowe, said that Felixstowe had been Maersk Line's main port in the UK for many years.
"The arrival of the AE1 service means that all its main east-west services are now calling here."
