Hamburg Sud upgrades Asia/West Coast Americas services

Hamburg Sud upgrades Asia/West Coast Americas services    Hamburg Sud will restructure its two services between Asia and the West Coasts of North and South America, effective in January.
   As a result of these changes, the German liner carrier’s China/Asia/South American service will no longer call at Vancouver, B.C., and Long Beach, Calif., but will proceed from Asia directly to Manzanillo, Mexico, and ports on the South American West Coast. The revised service will “complement the already existing weekly service between Asia and key ports in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile,” Hamburg Sud said in a statement.
   The port rotation for “Sling 1” will be: Yokohama, Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Hong Kong, Manzanillo, Guayaquil, Paita, Callao, Iquique, Mejillones, Valparaiso, Lirquen, Manzanillo and Yokohama. The carrier will make alternate calls at Paita and Mejillones.
   The port rotation for “Sling 2” will be: Keelung, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Busan, Manzanillo, Buenaventura, Callao, Mejillones, San Antonio and Keelung.
   Hambug Sud noted that the changes will provide fast transit times from Chile to refrigerated container markets in Japan and China. Both slings will be operated with nine vessels each and have a round voyage time of 63 days.
   Hamburg Sud said it will start a new fortnightly service between Vancouver, Seattle, Oakland, Long Beach and Ensenada to Manzanillo, where it will connect with the two weekly services. The service will be operated on a weekly basis with three 1,100-TEU container ships.