Hi List . Interesting reading, I hope you agree. Cheers Glenn. DOZENS of containers were swept into the sea from a Maersk ship late last week soon after it left Rotterdam for Hamburg. The 8,500 teu P&O Nedlloyd Mondriaan, now part of the Maersk fleet, lost containers overboard during very windy weather, while many others were damaged. Nine of the boxes were washed up on the Dutch island of Terschelling, where the local police were guarding beaches. Sportsgear and Barbie dolls had been scattered along the coast, a spokesman said. However, none of the boxes apparently contain hazardous cargoes. Neither were there any injuries as a result of the accident. SvitzerWijsmuller, part of the AP Moller-Maersk group, was appointed to salvage the containers. The two year old ship, which later berthed in Hamburg, had been carrying Grand Alliance as well as Maersk cargo. THE name of P&O Nedlloyd formally ceased to exist at the weekend, marking the end of frontline involvement in container shipping for two of the world's traditional maritime nations. Another brand also disappeared, with AP Moller-Maersk of Denmark dropping Sealand from the name of its main container shipping division as it returned to its roots with a relaunched Maersk Line. But plans to unveil the new look in a fanfare of publicity were dropped at the last moment as the group decided to maintain a low profile. With anti-Denmark protests still continuing in much of the Muslim world and Danish business on heightened alert following the anger over offensive cartoons first published in the Danish press, senior management scaled back a planned advertising campaign, cancelled press briefings and postponed prearranged interviews. The decision to roll-out Maersk Line quietly rather than give the world's largest container line a rousing send-off was the direct result of the furore of the past fortnight that has erupted into violence in many places. Shipping does not appear to have been directly affected by the consumer boycott of Danish products in the Middle East or the demonstrations, but AP Moller nevertheless felt it would be insensitive to make too much fuss about the new Maersk Line in the present circumstances. In maritime circles the end of P&O Nedlloyd is a poignant moment, with even arch competitors regarding the disappearance from ocean transport of two such famous names as a sad day for shipping, although the Nedlloyd name will ne retained on a number of vessels. When British company P&O and Royal Nedlloyd of the Netherlands formed their joint venture nearly a decade ago it was briefly the world's largest container line until Maersk snapped up its long-time US partner Sea-Land to form Maersk Sealand. Furthermore, benefiting from their respective countries' colonial past, P&O Nedlloyd enjoyed strong commercial links across the globe that continue to this day. Those, along with the big American customer base of the former Sea-Land, are now inherited by Maersk Line. Adding to the group's reach is the strong presence in southern Africa through its Safmarine subsidiary. The six months since the takeover was concluded have been spent integrating P&O Nedlloyd into the Maersk network. Central to the success of that process are computer systems. Almost all P&O Nedlloyd business will be migrated to Maersk Line's IT platform during the first half of the year. Job allocation has also been high on the agenda, with Maersk sticking to its original estimate of 1,500 staff cuts in total. Another priority was to withdraw P&O Nedlloyd from consortia such as the Grand Alliance where it was the dominant member, renegotiate conference memberships and review countless other similar commitments. In fact, the biggest take- over in container shipping will affect virtually every other carrier in the world, one way or another as well as ports, vendors, agents and, of course, customers. In many ways the acquisition has been concluded at a particularly difficult time with market conditions very different from a year ago when AP MOller-Maersk first made an approach to P&O Nedlloyd. At the time the container trades were still enjoying the strongest boom in their 50-year history, with charter rates at record highs, freight rates in good shape and profits soaring. The market is now under severe pressure as the vast number of ships ordered in recent years are delivered and fleet expansion races ahead of demand growth. Freight rates on some routes are falling fast, with the supply surplus compounded by hard-fought battles for key accounts. Maersk is determined to keep as much of P&O Nedlloyd's customer base as possible. Competitors are equally keen to lure business away.