Maruba to leave Asia/Americas VSA

Maruba to leave Asia/Americas VSA    Argentina-based Maruba S.C.A. will leave “Ampac,” a major vessel-sharing agreement grouping in the Asia/Americas and intra-Americas trades, next April.
   Attorneys representing Maruba and its fellow VSA partners, Compania Chilena de Navegacion Interoceanica and Hamburg-Sud, have notified the Federal Maritime Commission that they want to modify the cooperative agreement to reflects Maruba’s withdrawal from the agreement in April and the redeployment of vessels due to its departure.
   The Ampac joint service currently uses 11 containerships with an average capacity of 2,050 TEUs and calls at ports in Asia and on the west coasts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America and South America, according to the global liner shipping database ComPairData. This operation carries intra-Americas as well as transpacific shipments.
   The changes of the Ampac members is also the latest move of a major reshuffle of carrier services in the Asia/Mexico/West Coast of South America trade.
   Though no longer a member of Ampac Maruba says that they will continue loading cargo on Ampac vessels through a slot swap agreement with one of the members of the VSA.