Germany's Hapag-Lloyd and Singapore-based APL will next month split their joint weekly Asia/Mexico service into two weekly strings.
The move follows the recent decisions of COSCO Container Lines and Evergreen Line to replace their joint service in the trade with two independent strings on which the other will take slots.
Hapag-Lloyd refers to the service as the Asia-Mexico Express Service (AME), while APL calls it the Mexico Asia Express (MAX). The service has deployed four 4,250-TEU ships from Hapag-Lloyd and two 4,700-TEU ships from APL. The port rotation is Kaohsiung, Chiwan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Yokohama, Ensenada, Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Ensenada (second call every two weeks), Yokohama and back to Kaohsiung.
Hapag-Lloyd said it would contribute six 4,200-TEU ships to the two services, while APL would provide six 5,100-TEU vessels.
The additional string will not only bring additional capacity but new calls at Qingdao, Xiamen and Hong Kong as well as weekly departures from Ensenada. Hapag-Lloyd also said transit times "will shorten significantly in some cases," using the example of Kaohsiung to Lazaro Cardenas improving to 15 days instead of 23 days.
Port rotations for the two services will be:
- AME 1/MAX 1 (starting June 19 from Ningbo): Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Yokohama, Ensenada, Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Ensenada, Yokohama and Qingdao.
- AME 2/MAX 2 (starting June 14 from Hong Kong): Xiamen, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Kaohsiung, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Yokohama and Xiamen. The first departure is planned from Hong Kong on June 14.
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