ZIM restructures Gulf of Mexico-ECSA offerings

Ocean carrier now purchases slots on two weekly services between Gulf ports and the East Coast of South America.    Ocean carrier ZIM is restructuring its service offerings between Gulf of Mexico ports and the East Coast of South America.
   ZIM will offer two weekly services in the trade, but will not operate any vessels in either string.
   The carrier’s Gulf Brazil Service will deploy seven ships with capacity of about 5,500 TEUs, all of which will be operated by MSC and Hamburg Sud, according to a statement from ZIM. The GBS will no longer call Port of Spain and Kingston and in addition to now calling Itapoa, Suape, and Salvador will offer improved transit time, said Lea Bogatch-Genossar, president of Zim office for the Americas, Canada and Caribbean area. The service will now have a port rotation of Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, Cristobal, Cartagena, Suape, Santos, Itapoa, Navagantes, Paranagua, Santos, Rio De Janeiro, Salvador, Cartagena, Cristobal, and Vera Cruz.
   The Gulf South America service, a new offering for ZIM, will use eight vessels operated by Hapag-Lloyd, NYK and MSC, said Bogatch-Genossar. It has a port rotation of Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, New Orleans, Caucedo, Suape, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio Grande, Itajai, Santos, Rio De Janero, Cartagena, and Veracruz.
   “These lines will offer a better coverage, transit time and are in line with ZIM’s customers’ expectations from the trade,” said Rafael Ben-Ari, vice president of shipping at ZIM.