Carriers slow joint WCNA-Central America loop

   The ocean carriers Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) of Japan and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd have added a fourth vessel to their joint weekly MAREXN service between the U.S. West Coast, Mexico and Central America, increasing roundtrip voyage time from 21 days to 28 days. 
   Transit times in both directions have been increased by a few days, now taking 11 days from Los Angeles to Acajutla, El Salvador, and eight days on the return voyage from Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica to Los Angeles. The service also skipped two scheduled sailing positions commencing Los Angeles on Nov. 27 and Dec. 4, respectively.
   The rotation of the joint MAREXN loop, called CCE by Hapag Lloyd, remains Los Angeles, Mazatlan, Manzanillo (Mexico), Puerto Quetzal, Acajutla, Corinto, Puerto Caldera, Puerto Quetzal, Manzanillo, and Los Angeles. The service is currently operated with four vessels (two each from NYK and Hapag) with an average capacity of 2,514 TEUs. 
   NYK and Hapag-Lloyd are both members of the Grand Alliance along with Orient Overseas Container Line. Neither partner operates any other dedicated services between the West Coast of North America and Central America. The carriers do, however, currently operate two other services with direct connections between the two regions: the Grand Alliance’s massive PAX loop, which calls at Los Angeles to and from Central America en route to North Europe, East Coast North America, and Asia, and Hapag-Lloyd’s joint Mediterranean-to-West Coast North America MPS service with Hamburg-Süd. –ComPair Data, Ben Meyer