CMA CGM alters U.S. East Coast/Caribbean network

   Liner carrier CMA CGM is altering the rotation of a service linking the U.S. East Coast and the Caribbean ahead of the suspension of its Black Pearl service between the U.S. East Coast, the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America.
   The line’s Cagema service has added calls at New York and Jacksonville, and dropped calls at Port of Spain and Castries, as well as existing fortnightly calls at El Guamache and Aruba.
   The revised rotation, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data, will be New York, Savannah, Jacksonville, Miami, Kingston, Rio Haina, San Juan, Philipsburg, Vieux Fort, Bridgetown and New York. The service will continue to operate with three vessels with an average capacity of 1,107 TEUs.
   Meanwhile, CMA CGM’s forward schedules show its Black Pearl service will be dropped as of this week’s sailing. The service has a rotation of Miami, New York, Halifax, Kingston, Cartagena, Manzanillo (Panama), Miami and New York. In July, the line omitted Philadelphia from the Black Pearl rotation and reduced the number of vessels on the service from five to three. It was also to begin calling Savannah in August, but those calls apparently never materialized.
   The Black Pearl rotation has undergone other changes in the last year. In November 2010, the line added calls on the West Coast of South America before dropping them in June.