APL-MOL increase capacity on Balboa feeder

   The liner shipping companies APL and MOL have raised capacity on their weekly Balboa to West Coast South America feeder service PAX/ACW by increasing the size of the vessels.
   Average ship capacity has increased 50 percent from 1,694 TEUs to 2,521 TEUs.
   The port rotation of the PAX/ACW remains Balboa, Buenaventura, Callao, Valparaiso, Callao, Paita, Buenaventura, and Balboa. APL also operates a similar, albeit much smaller, average 1,275-TEU joint service with Hamburg Süd, its WCX loop, on which MOL also purchases slots along with Hamburg-Süd subsidiary Alianca. The WCX connects Balboa with Paita, Guayaquil, Puerto Quetzal, and Lazaro Cardenas in a weekly butterfly pattern.   
   APL and MOL are partners in the New World Alliance alongside Hyundai Merchant Marine. The alliance calls Balboa on two of its weekly all-water services from Asia, the NYX and APX. Between these two loops and the Balboa feeder MOL now advertises transshipment connections between WCSA and five U.S. East Coast ports, three ports in North Europe, and (northbound only) to Oakland. — ComPair Data, Ben Meyer