Hapag-Lloyd, NYK confirm entry in U.S. East Coast/Brazil trade

Hapag-Lloyd, NYK confirm entry in U.S. East Coast/Brazil trade    Hapag-Lloyd and NYK Line confirmed they will start a joint service between the U.S. East Coast and the East Coast of South America, under a cooperative agreement filed with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission in November.
   Both carriers are new entrants in the U.S. East Coast and the East Coast of South America trade. In May, “K” Line also entered this increasingly crowded trade.
   Hapag-Lloyd and NYK will start their joint service from Brazil during the second half of January. Their first southbound sailing from New York is planned for Feb. 14. The projected fortnightly service will use three 1,100-TEU vessels that will call at New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Miami, Kingston, Sao Francisco do Sul (Brazil), Santos (Brazil), Sepetiba (Brazil), Puerto Sucre (Venezuela) and New York.
   NYK already provides container services from Asia and northern Europe to the East Coast of South America, while Hapag-Lloyd is in the northern Europe/East Coast of South America trade.
   NYK will call its new South American operation the Atlantic North South service.
   “The South America market is not new for NYK Line and we have a well established and professional infrastructure already in place to assist in the development of our new Atlantic North South service,” said Hiroyuki Shimizu, chairman and chief executive officer of NYK Line (North America).