Maersk kills Spondylus WCSA loop

   The ocean carrier Maersk Line will suspend its weekly Spondylus service between the U.S. East Coast, Central America and west coast South America. 
   The last sailing will be by the Maersk Willemstadt, departing Esmeraldas, Ecuador on June 15. 
   This move comes just one month after Maersk terminated its direct Europe-west coast of South America Andean 1 service (reported by American Shipper May 7) and subsequently extended its ECUBEX loop in order to ensure port coverage (reported by American Shipper June 4). 
   The four-ship average 1,708-TEUs Spondylus loop had a port rotation of Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, Balboa, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Savannah, Miami, Manzanillo (Panama), Balboa, and Esmeraldas. 
   Aside from the Spondylus, Maersk does not operate any other services with direct connections between the west coast of South America and the U.S. East Coast. The carrier does, however, operate four other services and takes slots on one more that connect the east coast of North America with ports in Central America, all but one of which call at either one or both of Maersk’s regional transshipment hubs in Manzanillo and Balboa, Panama. – ComPair Data, Ben Meyer