New APL service links Central America with Asia & US, new Pacific Coast route

Connecting several promising markets with a single new route, APL has launched a weekly container transportation feeder service to support the fast-growing trade between Asia and Central America. Equally importantly, the new service will link Central American markets with the West Coast of the United States.

The Mexico-Central America Express (MCX) service, which sails up and down the coasts of California, Mexico and the northern zone of Central America, and connects at Los Angeles with several of APL's trans-Pacific services, began on December 2.

"One of the advantages of this north-south service is the global connectivity it provides for exporters and importers in various geographical regions and industries," said Manny Fernandez, APL's president for Latin America.

"For example, it will not only relay the Asian textiles and piece goods to feed the Central American garment factories, but it will also bring those same finished articles of clothing into U.S. West Coast markets."

The new service, which uses two modern containerships operated by APL, will run weekly between the Port of Los Angeles and Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala. En route, it will make a southbound call at the Mexican port of Manzanillo, where it can pick up additional Asian-origin freight, and a northbound call at Mexico's Salina Cruz.

APL becomes the only major container operator calling at Salina Cruz, providing a faster transit for exports to Asia of Mexican products than alternative services.

The new service will expand APL's role in meeting Central America's growing demand for consumer products from Asia, in addition to the textiles and piece goods. In the reverse direction, APL will carry food, coffee, and other commodities from Central America to Asia.

The northbound trade will consist of Central American refrigerated foodstuffs and other products for the U.S. market, in addition to the finished apparel.

Fernandez emphasized that all shipments, even those moving to or from remote Central American markets, can be easily tracked in real-time by email or via APL's website. Also, the company maintains sales and customer-service personnel throughout the region through an existing network of offices and agencies.

From the Guatemalan port of Puerto Quetzal, APL will have the capability of distributing goods throughout the northern zone of Central America, added Pedro Nevarez, APL's managing director for Central America and the Caribbean.

Specifically, he said the company will provide intermodal service to or from Guatemala City, Guatemala; San Salvador, El Salvador; Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and Managua, Nicaragua.

The vessels serving the new route are named the APL Guadalajara and the APL Quetzal, and each has an effective capacity of 400 TEU.

APL provides customers around the world with container transportation services through a network combining high-quality intermodal operations with state-of-the-art information technology. Its sister company, APL Logistics, provides intercontinental, end-to-end supply-chain management services. Both are units of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), a global logistics and transportation company engaged in shipping and related businesses. < Korea Shipping Gazette >