The maritime freight that shipping lines have charged on the Asia-Mexico-west coast of South America maritime route during June has reached its highest value recorded this year.

The EAX index, from  Eternity Group México , reported that the cost of transporting a 40-foot container (FEU) from a Southeast Asian port to its peers on the Latin American Pacific coast has had a value of $7,613 on average in the sixth month of this year, an upward variation of 37.72% compared to the previous month.

“It is important to note that the accumulated performance of our index reflects a general increase of +236% compared to the end of the first quarter of the year. In line with our past newsletters, we have highlighted that the tradelane has reported growth in terms of space capacity,” said the freight forwarder firm in its monthly report.

Despite this increase in maritime freight, importers still expect the market to make downward adjustments given the additional capacity deployed by shipping lines.

In addition, these same companies have announced new openings of maritime services that connect Asia with western Mexico, meeting the growing demand for the movement of Asian merchandise; the last of them has been ONE.

“With information as of the end of June 30, we can highlight that the commercial route has received +500 thousand additional TEUs (20-foot containers) during the first half of the year, thus benefiting the entire west coast of LATAM (WCSA) with greater scope of supply in the face of a bullish market,” stated Eternity Group México.

This same situation has merited significant downward adjustments in the cost of freight that began to be charged during July, also driven by a slight slowdown in the demand for spaces led by the electric car industry (which, due to its size in terms of volume, they have generated an imbalance in the short-term rate).

“As a consequence of this new situation, Q3 (third quarter) levels could find a new equilibrium point below seven thousand dollars per 40-foot container , as long as there is no significant adjustment on supply or an event. economic/geopolitical that again causes disruptions in the market,” the company said.

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El cargo Asia-Mexico Sea Freight Surpasses $7,000 per FEU apareció primero en T21.

The shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE) announced on Thursday the opening of a new maritime service that will connect Asia with the west coast of Mexico , joining other shipping lines that seek to take advantage of the demand for capacity between these points, mainly in shipments of Asian goods to the Latin American country.

The new ONE service will be called Asia Latin America Express 4 (ALX4) and will rotate Shanghai – Busan – Lázaro Cárdenas – Shanghai.

“This new service will offer customers a premium loop rotation serving trade between North Asia and Mexico, as well as additional network coverage and frequency between Asia and Mexico. “ALX4 joins our existing ALX1, ALX2 and ALX3 services to provide an extensive network connecting Asia and South America,” according to a statement from the shipping line.

ONE ranks as the sixth largest maritime container carrier in the world, managing 1,915,867 20-foot containers (TEU) and 243 container ships, according to Alphaliner data updated as of July 11.

ONE joins other shipping lines, such as CMA CGM , MSC , Cosco Shipping and Hapag-Lloyd , which have announced in recent months new maritime services linking the coasts of Southeast Asia with those of western Mexico.

In the first five months of this year, Mexican Pacific ports had operated two million 716 thousand 934 TEU , 17.9% more than in the same period last year, where one million 069 thousand 503 TEU have been in import services or 15.9 % more, according to the comparison periods, according to data from the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine , of the Ministry of the Navy .

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El cargo ONE Launches New Asia-Mexico Service; Will Only Arrive at One Mexican Port apareció primero en T21.

Ensenada, B.C. – COSCO Shipping Lines revealed the importance of Mexico for its maritime business. The Chinese shipping line inaugurated its new direct service (WSA5) between Asia and the Latin American country last week, aiming to improve transport times for the growing wave of imported goods from the Far East that have been registered in the Mexican market.

The WSA5 rotation, on a weekly basis, includes calls to the Asian ports of Busan (South Korea), Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo (China), and Yokohama (Japan); while in Mexico it will call at the ports of Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lázaro Cárdenas.

“It reflects the attention COSCO Shipping is giving to the Mexican market as a growing market that is bringing many opportunities. At the same time, the Mexican market has limited logistical resources, so COSCO Shipping intends to deploy its resources in Mexico to help solve these challenges,” Fu Hua, general manager of COSCO Shipping Lines Mexico, told T21.

The executive described that the company seeks to expand its “door-to-door” coverage, deploying greater capacity in ships to connect and serve these markets (Asia and Mexico), as well as strengthening cooperation with its partners in the most important Mexican ports, precisely to develop integrated solutions for its clients, exploring deeper cooperation opportunities and strengthening its land service resources by reaching strategic partnerships with local providers.

Official data indicates that from January to April 2024, Mexican ports handled just over 2.9 million 20-foot containers (TEU) in import services, representing an increase of 17.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Specifically, Pacific ports, mostly receiving imports from the Far East, saw an 18.9% growth.

“We are working to provide solutions and facilitate inland cargo movement in Mexico in cooperation with our various partners, introducing special services such as unit train delivery, fast delivery with exclusive pickup, and road transport,” said Fu Hua.

Platform for Mexican Exports

COSCO Shipping Lines’ new WSA5 service also offers an alternative for Mexican exporters looking to timely place their products in Asian markets. For example, Bachoco, a food production company, ships at least 2,500 tons of products to Japan monthly, requiring space for about 320 to 350 containers.

“We hope this new route will help us attract more customers and reach more destinations in Asia due to the competitive transit times it offers,” said Oswaldo Chariva, Export Manager of Bachoco, in an interview with T21.

A similar case is APLO, a Mexican freight forwarder, which seeks to reserve about 140 container spaces monthly to export its clients’ products such as grapes, nuts, cherries, zucchinis, avocados, and lemons, among other fresh products.

“Transit times for our goods are crucial,” said Adrián Pérez, General Director of APLO.

COSCO Shipping Lines’ WSA5 joins the transpacific service offerings between Asia and the west coast of Latin America (WSA) that the shipping line has been operating for several years, amid the increase in trade exchanges between these two regions of the world.

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El cargo Cosco Shipping Launches new Direct Service Between Asia and Mexico apareció primero en T21.