With Asia-South America ocean freight rates at an 18-month high of around $4,350 per 40ft, mainline operators have been adding ships and calls to their services.
Another Brazilian port of call
HMM told The Loadstar that from 26 May, it would add another Brazilian port of call, Rio Grande, to its Far East-India-Latin America (FIL) service, while omitting Buenos Aires in Argentina and Montevideo in Uruguay. In Rio Grande, the ships will call at the Tecon terminal.
HMM’s spokesperson explained: “Due to the severe port congestion on the east coast of South America, HMM has added a call at Rio Grande to improve schedule reliability.”
HMM’s move coincides with expanded capacity on two Asia-South America east coast (ECSA) services operated jointly by CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL, Evergreen, PIL and Yang Ming.
From 5 May, the first string, marketed as SEAS2/ESA2/TLA2/ESA3/SSA respectively, will call Tianjin (Xingang), Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Paranagua, Itapoa, Navegantes, Santos, Colombo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tianjin.
Second string
The second string, branded as SEAS1/ESA/TLA1/ESA/SA2/SA3 respectively, will call Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Navegantes, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Paranagua, Santos, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
While no new ports of call have been added, the service will up its average weekly capacity from 10,900 teu to 11,000 teu, with 13 ships of 9,000 to 13,200 teu, starting with the 9,466 teu Ever Leader from 10 May, with seven ships from Evergreen, two ships each from Cosco and PIL, and one ship each from CMA CGM and Yang Ming.
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Source : Loadstar
