Ocean carriers are targeting the burgeoning China-Mexico trade with the launch of new services next month that coincide with soaring container volumes and growing investment in Mexico by Chinese companies.
Cosco Shipping and OOCL, its Hong Kong-headquartered affiliate, will launch an express service between Asia and Mexico in early May with a 15-day transit from Qingdao to Ensenada, Baja California, and 20 days from Qingdao to Manzanillo.
While the trans-Pacific Latin Pacific 5 (TLP5) service starts in Busan, it will predominantly serve eastern and northern China with calls at Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dalian and the west coast Mexican ports of Ensenada and Manzanillo. There will be westbound calls at Yokohama and Busan.
“TLP5 is a brand-new service jointly operated by OOCL and COSCO Shipping Lines that aims to cater to the increasing demand in Asia–Mexico trade and provide a competitive option to shippers,” Michael Xu, OOCL’s director of trades, told the Journal of Commerce.
The two carriers will deploy seven vessels with a nominal size of 6,000 TEU on the loop, which starts May 6 from Ningbo, Xu added. OOCL said its existing TLP1, TLP2 and TLP3 loops are unaffected by the new service.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), meanwhile, will launch a similar China-Mexico shuttle starting from Qingdao on May 15 that will call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas. The service, which is in addition to MSC’s existing Andes, Aztec, Inca and Santana loops, will be inaugurated by the 6,500-TEU MSC Apollo.
Volume, capacity boost
The launch of the new services comes amid surging volumes between China and Mexico and an investment boom by Chinese companies in Mexico as part of wider nearshoring efforts in Central and South America. Chinese investment is helping to fuel a boom in Mexico-US trade that led Mexico to overtake China last year as the biggest exporter to the US.
Details please refer to JOC news.
Source:
Wallis, K. (2024, April 30). Ocean carriers target growing China-mexico trade with new express services. Journal of Commerce. https://joc.com/article/ocean-carriers-target-growing-china-mexico-trade-new-express-services_20240430.html