Zim to take slots on MSC Americas services

   The container line Zim will from the end of March take slots on a Mediterranean Shipping Co. on the trade between the U.S. East Coast and the east coast of South America, while jointly operating another loop on the U.S. Gulf-East Coast South America trade.
   The rotation for the U.S. East Coast service will be Charleston, Norfolk, New York, Baltimore, Savannah, Freeport, Caucedo, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio Grande, Navegantes, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Suape, Caucedo, Freeport, and Charleston.
   The rotation for the Gulf service will be Houston, New Orleans, Kingston, Caucedo, Suape, Salvador, Vitoria, Paranagua, Navegantes, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Pecem, Cristobal, Kingston, and Houston. Zim said the service will be operated with five MSC vessels and two Zim vessels.
   The new rotations come into effect starting the last week of March.
   The U.S. East Coast service largely mirrors an existing MSC service the Swiss line operates with CSAV. That eight-ship service (with MSC providing six vessels) has a virtually identical rotation to the planned rotation between MSC and Zim. The only difference in rotation is Navegantes would replace a current call at San Francisco de Sul.
   The planned U.S. Gulf Coast service combines port calls from Zim’s former seven-ship, standalone SAX loop and MSC’s other service linking the east coast of South America with North America. The previous SAX rotation was Kingston, Vitoria, Rio Grande, Itajai, Santos, Pecem, La Guaira, Puerto Cabello, Kingston, Tampa, Mobile, Houston, and Kingston.
   Zim told American Shipper it also plans to reestablish a separate dedicated feeder connecting the U.S. Gulf to its hub in Kingston. The feeder would have a rotation of Kingston, Tampa, Mobile, and Kingston. — Eric Johnson