More evidence of the burgeoning direct trade between China and Mexico was on show yesterday after French carrier CMA CGM announced it will launch a new express shipping service between the two countries.
The Marseille-headquartered shipping line said the forthcoming Mexico Express (M2X) service was “specifically designed to streamline your shipments from the Far East to Mexico’s West Coast. This initiative aligns with market dynamics in the region.”
The service will run on a weekly fixed day basis and be operated by eight ships of so far undisclosed capacity, with the following port rotation: Tianjin-Qingdao-Busan-Ensenada-Manzanillo-Lazaro Cardenas-Yokohama-Busan-Tianjin.
The carrier said reefer exports to Asia from Latin America would be transhipped over Lazaro Cardenas.
The first sailing with be on 11 May with the departure of the 4,250 teu ANL Wangaratta, which is currently deployed on the south-east Asia-west Australia AAXW feeder service jointly operated by CMA CGM, Cosco and OOCL, according to the eeSea liner database.
The move will see CMA CGM join the swelling ranks of carriers offering direct services from north-east Asia directly into Mexico on 15 May. OOCL and Cosco will jointly launch their TLP5 string, while MSC is set to introduce a new China-Mexico shuttle service the same day.
Mexico’s sudden popularity with Chinese exporters could be as a result of the massive amounts of direct investment Chinese firms have been ploughing into the country recently, with plant and equipment needed to support these manufacturing investments.
Another possible factor, often touted by anti-Chinese US politicians and lobbyists, is that Mexico’s Pacific coast ports represent an alternative gateway to the US market, potentially as a way of avoiding US tariffs.
An analysis of the China-Mexico trade earlier this week discovered that loadable capacity going into the three main Pacific box ports of Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas and Ensenada has climbed around 12% year-on-year.
However, it could be too much of a good thing, as the ports are already in danger of being overwhelmed by imports – according to eeSea, Ensenada and Manzanillo are currently operating at around 116% and 93% of their design capacity.