CSAV drops another service

CSAV drops another service    Chilean liner carrier CSAV said Wednesday it is suspending another ocean service, the third to be dropped by the line in recent weeks.
   This time, it's the carrier's NACSA service between Mexico and the U.S. West Coast, a loop the carrier created in January when it dropped out of a loop jointly operated with Hamburg S'd linking the West coasts of South and North America.
   The last sailing of the NACSA will depart Long Beach Aug. 4. The service's rotation has been Manzanillo, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver, Oakland, Long Beach and Manzanillo, though CSAV advertises connections to the Caribbean and South America via both Mexican ports.
   The carrier said it was dropping the service 'given the unfavorable economic environment affecting trade between North America West Coast and South America West Coast, Caribbean and Central America.'
   On Monday, CSAV said it would drop an Asia/Europe service, while in late June the line suspended a transpacific loop to the U.S. West Coast.
   CSAV also said last week it was in talks with Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) and CMA CGM to join services on several trades in Asia, South America, Africa, and Europe.
   The line sustained more than $700 million in operating losses in 2008 and 2009 before rebounding with a $218 million profit in 2010 on the back of a rapid fleet and network expansion in 2009 and 2010. However, that 2010 profit ranked only 14th of 15 lines analyzed by American Shipper in its annual Who's Making Money report for 2010, a year in which every major container line made hundreds of millions of dollars of profit.
   Additionally, the line performed worst out of 13 carriers examined in terms of profit per TEU carried in 2009 and 2010. ' Eric Johnson