The liner shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV have slowed their GS1 service between Mexico/U.S. Gulf and the Caribbean/East Coast South America, increasing round voyage time from 49 days to 56 days.
Transit times northbound to Mexico and the U.S. Gulf from East Coast South America have increased by about seven days, now taking 26 days between Montevideo and Veracruz.
The service is currently operated with five Hapag-Lloyd vessels and three from CSAV, with an average capacity of 5,546 TEUs. CSAV subsidiary Libra-Montemar continues to take slots on the GS1, along with Maersk Line and NYK.
The rotation of GS1 remains Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, New Orleans, Caucedo, Suape, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio Grande, Navegantes, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Caucedo, and Veracruz.
None of the five GS1 carriers has any other services that connect either Mexico or the U.S. Gulf Coast directly with East Coast South America.
CSAV, however, operates two joint services from the U.S. East Coast to ECSA, the Tango 1 with Hamburg Süd and the Tango 2 with Mediterranean Shipping Co.. Between these two loops CSAV connects New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Port Everglades with the Caribbean and ECSA. Hapag-Lloyd takes slots on Tango 2.
NYK offers a similar, albeit much smaller (average 1,650 TEUs) joint service with Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hanjin, (its ANS loop), on which Hapag-Lloyd also purchases slots. The ANS connects Norfolk, New York, Savannah, and Miami with the Caribbean and East Coast South America.
A little unusually, Maersk Line has no involvement in direct service between the U.S. East Coast and ECSA, although services from both port ranges connect with its regional transshipment hubs in Manzanillo (Panama) and Algeciras. — ComPair Data, Ben Meyer
Hapag, CSAV slow joint Gulf-ECSA loop
