Maersk expands Gemini shuttle strategy to west coast Latin America

Maersk is bringing its shuttle concept to the west coast of Latin America with a new service connecting Mexico, Panama, and Ecuador. The Danish carrier said the new West Coast Shuttle, due to launch in September, “expands from a single-vessel Balboa–Posorja shuttle into a comprehensive three-vessel network connecting Mexico, Panama, and Ecuador, creating new opportunities for your supply chain”. The service will begin with the departure of the 2,500 teu AS Palina from the Ecuadoran port of Posorja on 20 September on a port rotation of Posorja-Balboa-Lazaro Cardenas-Manzanillo (Mexico). This is expected to coincide with the scheduled end of the current version of Maersk’s standalone Asia-Latin America AC1 service. The AC1 deploys eight ships with an average capacity of 4,000 teu calling Ningbo-Busan-Lazaro Cardenas-Buenaventura-Posorja, but, according to Xeneta’s eeSea liner database, will drop the Posorja call for a new rotation of of Ningbo-Yokohama-Manzanillo-Lazaro Cardenas-Buenaventura-Balboa. Maersk said this week that Posorja would now be served on the West Coast Shuttle, with containers transhipped over Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, clearly an extension of its Gemini strategy of running shuttle services out of its hub ports. In March, APM Terminals’ Lazaro Cardenas facility opened its Phase II expansion and announced work on Phase III had started. In a further shuffle, Maersk’s Central America-North America WCCA2 service – on which MSC charters slots and includes calls at both Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo before US calls at Long Beach and Hueneme – is also set to be revised at around the same time. According to eeSea, the WCCA2 string, which deploys five vessels with an average capacity of 3,150 teu, is to be replaced with a new version deploying four vessels with an average capacity of 3,300 teu, and which will drop the Manzanillo and add Conrinto in Nicaragua. The AS Palina was previously deployed on the WCCA2 string.