Maersk ups capacity on Asia-Latin America loop

The Danish ocean carrier increased average vessel capacity on its AC2 loop, which operates between Asia and the western coasts of Mexico, Panama and Colombia, by 13 percent.    Maersk Line’s AC2 loop, which operates between Asia, and the western coasts of Mexico, Panama and Colombia, is in the process of upgrading to larger vessels, according to the Danish ocean carrier’s most recent online service schedules.
   Between Nov. 15 and Dec. 6, the service is adding four 13,102-TEU vessels to replace three 9640-TEU vessels and one 11,294-TEU vessel.
   The upgrade will increase the AC2’s average vessel capacity 13 percent to 11,362 TEUs, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting.
   The AC2 operates with nine vessels with a rotation of Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Busan, Manzanillo (Mexico), Lazaro Cardenas, Balboa, Buenaventura, Lazaro Cardenas, Vostochniy and Qingdao.
   The new 13,102-TEU vessels added to the service, the Maersk Edinburgh, Maersk Elba, Maersk Effingham and Maersk Eindhoven, previously served on the 2M Alliance’s AE1/Shogun loop, according to BlueWater Reporting’s Vessel History report.
   The AE1/Shogun operates between Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and North Europe using 11 vessels with an average capacity of 13,888 TEUs.
   Overall, the AC2 has the largest average vessel capacity of the 15 container shipping services that deploy capacity from Asia to Central America, the 11 that deploy capacity from Asia to the West Coast of South America and 12 that deploy capacity from Asia to Mexico, according to data from BlueWater Reporting’s Capacity Report.