MAERSK Line is restoring seasonal Victorian calls northbound on its New Zealand-South East Asia Southern Star service, effective this week.
Dubbed Melbourne Star by the carrier the service was implemented last year on a fortnightly basis and nominally extended through until the end of September but ships continued to call on an ad hoc basis, including twice in December.
Now Maersk says that based on last year’s successful debut it is again boosting export options to support the Australian peak season. It says the Melbourne Star offers best-in-class lead times to key South East Asian transhipment hubs, “with smooth onward connections to global markets”. This year’s diversion will be weekly.
In a quarterly review Maersk says schedule reliability on the Asia–Oceania trade lane reached 57.6% in June, marking a 1.2 percentage point improvement from May. Maersk retained its position as the industry leader, achieving an on-time performance of 67.5%—10 percentage points above the market average and 11.8 points ahead of the second-ranked carrier, which reported 55.7%.
Schedule reliability from New Zealand to Asia remains strong, with the Southern Star continuing to lead in on-time performance, Maersk said.
Ironically, the first call on the resumed Melbourne Star – by the 5,905 TEU Maersk Rio Bravo – is running several days late. Following vessels are scheduled to arrive on Saturdays and depart Sundays, with Maersk Rio India to be followed by Maersk Monte Lascar, Maersk Rio Negro, Maersk Rio Blanco, Maersk Rio Delta and Maersk Rio Alfa.
The Asia–Oceania trade lane is beginning to show early signs of recovery, according to the latest Maersk Strategic Insight Report. Containerised volumes rose by 1.2% year-on-year for the March to May 2025 period. This marks a notable turning point following the softening observed in Q1, Maersk said, driven by improved balance across global trade flows— particularly as pressure eases on other key lanes such as Asia–Europe and Asia–Americas.