Hapag-Lloyd adds Baltimore to GMX

   The liner carrier Hapag-Lloyd said Tuesday it will add a call in Baltimore to its transatlantic GMX service from February.
   The revised rotation will be Thamesport, Le Havre, Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Baltimore, Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, New Orleans, Charleston, and Thamesport. The service is currently operated with Hapag-Lloyd vessels with an average capacity of 3,116 TEUs. OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd’s partner in the Grand Alliance, and ACL take slots, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data.
   The addition of the Baltimore call is significant because the service currently doesn’t call westbound at any U.S. ports. Aside from allowing Hapag-Lloyd and its partners to gain extra westbound Europe-U.S. capacity, it also allows the lines to serve the U.S. East Coast-to-Mexico trade, ComPair Data Chief Analyst Francis Phillips noted.
   The move by Hapag-Lloyd can also be viewed in the context of Maersk Line’s recent revival of its CRX service, which connects Europe and Mexico, but purposely bypasses U.S. ports in both directions to avoid U.S. advanced manifest declaration requirements.
   Hapag-Lloyd said transit time from Bremerhaven to Veracruz will be 15 days with the stop at Baltimore in between. That compares to 14 days direct at present, according to ComPair Data. – Chris Dupin and Eric Johnson