[ APL & TMM Will Upgrade Asia-Mexico Service ]

APL and Transportacion Maritima Mexicana(TMM) will deploy six large, f
ast containerships on their Asia-Mexico service, resulting in transit-
time improvements and additional capacity for both dry and regrigerate
d cargoes. And of great interest to importers and exporters that have
been concerned about cargo security in Mexico, the two carriers have c
ollaborated to launch the first and only double-stack container servic
e between Manzanillo and Mexico City and are working together to expan
d it to other interior points.
Besides offering a weekly line-haul containership call at Manzanillo,
the carriers will also offer their customers access to four other week
ly sailings that connect with the Manzanillo service at Los angeles. T
hese sailings include the fastest transit times in the industry betwee
n Asia and Loa angeles.
As a result, APL and TMM will provice the most competitive transit tim
es to Manzanillo, such as a 13-day transit from Yokohama, 17 days from
either Hong Kong or Shanghai, 20 days from singapore, or 22 days from
Malaysia. In the Westbound direction, the transit time from Manzanill
o to Manila will be 25 days from Malaysia. In the Westbound direction,
the transit time from Manzanillo to Manila will be 25 days, an improv
ement of seven days.
The companies said their double-stack rail link between Manzanillo and
Mexico city offers three departures per week in each direction. “Dou
ble-stack technology provides improved cargo security because the rece
ssed compartments of the special rail cars retrict the opening of the
container doors,” sail APL’s Carlos Velez, director general for Mexi
co.
APL and TMM also said customers can expect increased delivery reliabil
ity because, between them, they are directly involved in operating sev
eral of the Key terminal facilities the vessels will call.
As part of the new trans-Pacific deployments recently announced by the
New World alliance, of which APL is a part, the six vessels calling M
exico’s modern port of Manzanillo will be large, fast ships of the C9
and J9 classes that will offer plenty of capacity for Mexico’s impor
ters and exporters of both dry and refrigerated commodities.
“The major advantage of this deployment is that the fast ships and us
e of company-controlled terminals in Asia and North America provide th
e speed and logistical control that enables the carriers to offer a wi
de range of ports without sacrificing transit time. This keeps the ser
vice competitive, and it also enhances delivery reliability-- which is
especially important to shippers of parts and components for manufact
ure,” said Leopoldo Gomez, TMM’s executive director of maritime busi
ness.
TMM operates the state-of-the-art Manzanillo terminal, and the two com
panies maintain staff at the terminal to help ensure a smooth ship-to-
train interface at the on-dock stacktrain ramp. Also, APL and TMM, who
are the two largest users of the Pantaco intermodal terminal in Mexic
o City, Maintain dedicated staff at Pantaco to facilitate customs form
alities and the interface between rail and truck. In Asia, the service
calls at APL-operated terminals in Kaohsiung and Yokohama. In Los Ang
eles, APL operates the largest and most modern terminal in the United
States, helping to ensure smooth relays to or from its many other glob
al services.
In addition to providing enhanced cargo security, the APL-TMM stacktra
in operation is improving transit times. By operation the trains as “
unit trains,” stopping only to change locomotives and crew, the compa
nies have reduced the transit time to and from Mexico City to 48 hours
from 72 hours
Also, the new trans are helping meet a critical need for intermodal tr
ansporation equipment.
According to Joaquin Montalvan, CEO of Grupo Optimus , the operation a
gent for both APL and TMM, Asian imports into Mexico continue to expan
d rapidly. “But investment in new equipment by the railroads has slow
ed while the privatization process is underway,” he said, “so the in
fusion of technologically advanced stacktrain cars is helping keep del
iveries on schedule.”
Use of the lightweight rail cars, on which containers are stacked two
high, also results in greater fuel efficiency. said Gerardo Primo, TMM
’s director of intermodal and land business, “the carriers have appr
oximately doubled their capacity on this route with virtually no incre
ase in fuel consumption or air emissions.”
APL, the container-shipping arm of Neptune Orient Lines, provides worl
dwide container transportation and logistics services through an integ
rated network combining high-quality intermodal services with state-of
-the-art information technology. Current shipment-status information i
s available on the company’s website, http://www.apl.com, or from any
of the company’s offices, including Mexico City, Guadalajara and Mon
terrey. NOL is a global transportation company with diverse transport-
related activities, but shipping is its core business.
Headquartered in Mexico City, TMM is Latin America’s largest multimod
al transportation company. Through its 23 branch offices and network o
f subsidiary companies, TMM provides a dynamic combination of ocean an
d land transportation services within Mexico. serving North, Central,
and South America as well as Asia and Europe, Tmm liner vessels regula
rly link 43 countries through 65 ports. TMM also has an interest in Tr
ansportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, which operates Mexico’s northeast
railway and carries over 40 percent of the country’s rail cargo.