On 10 March 2007, YICT welcomed the new extended version of Maersk's Asia – Middle East network, the FM5 Service, which can significantly improve the transit time from China to Aqaba in Jordan by up to seven days. In addition to the existing FM1 and FM2 Service, Maersk has its three main Asia – Middle East services calling at Yantian.
Six 5,050-TEU container vessels are to call at YICT every Saturday and be deployed to the new line-haul route, which includes a port rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Salalah, Jeddah, Aqaba and Port Klang.
Maersk has earlier announced its plans to improve and restructure its Asia – Middle East service so as to optimise its service allocation further and enhance port coverage. One of the improvements introduced by the FM5 Service is the provision of a direct route from East and South China to Salalah and Jeddah. The implementation of this direct service will also improve the coverage of the Asia - Red Sea service significantly.