APL Central America service to call at Miami starting in January

Global shipping company APL is routing its leading Central America service through the Port of Miami beginning Jan.6, 2009. APL said that the Central America Express (CAX) and its companion service, the CX2, moved from Port Everglades to Miami beginning Jan. 6.

Miami was the only U.S. port of call for the service that connects Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador with APL? major European and Latin American trade routes.

This provides us an excellent opportunity to grow our business in the region, said Carlos Velez, Vice President and Managing Director for APL in Latin America. Our fastest connections to Europe and South America go through Miami, so we'll be giving shippers the best possible access to major markets.

TThe twice-weekly CAX is one of three APL services reaching Central America. By routing through Miami, Velez said, shippers on the CAX can connect to APL? Atlantic Pacific Express and Atlantic North service for shipments to-and-from Europe. They can also use Miami to link up with APL's New York Express for other major ports of call in Latin America, as well as Asia.

For the first time in APL's history we are now effectively bridging the northern zone of Central America with the larger Latin American region, Europe and Asia via our all-water service options, pointed out Velez.

In addition to synchronizing their supply chains, Velez said the switch in ports will enable shippers to benefit from increased cargo-handling efficiency. Miami recently opened an automated 16-lane gate to speed traffic at the port.

Turn times at the port, the amount of time it takes a trucker to deliver one container and pick up another, have averaged just 30 minutes. That's one of the best performance records of any U.S. port, Velez indicated.

APL is the world's seventh largest container carrier by volume, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines. <Korea Shipping Gazette>