Cosco has launched an ‘express’ ocean service to speed up the movement of Ecuadorean shrimps and bananas to China.
Commencing with the 8,528 teu Xin Ou Zhou Guayaquil on Friday, the WSA5 service will call at Chancay in Peru and then Shanghai, and it is estimated that the reefers on board will reach China in 27 days, significantly fewer than the 35 to 55 on other services.
WSA5 comes some months after Cosco signed an agreement with the ICTSI-managed Contecon Guayaquil terminal.
Then, the terminal’s CEO, Javier Lancha, spoke of the loss of calls by MSC and Maersk which had shifted their container handling to neighbouring competitors in January 2024. Maersk moved to DP World’s Posorja terminal, favouring its deeper draught, while MSC relocated to Naportec’s Bananapuerto.
Contecon Guayaquil is the largest multipurpose terminal within the world’s largest banana-exporting port, but the loss of the world’s two largest container shipping lines caused volumes to plunge to 350,000 teu last year, from 858,068 teu in 2023.
Mr Lancha said the shorter voyage time would be good for moving frozen shrimps, but felt banana exporters stood to gain more, adding: “Bananas are Ecuador’s core fruit produce and are coveted by all countries.”
Cosco GM Tao Weidong said it was the first time the state-owned carrier had berthed a ship in Ecuador and it was part of the company’s strategy to create new routes in South America .
Indeed, amid growing tension with the US, the Chinese government has been cultivating relations in the continent, and in November, President Xi Jinping inaugurated the Chancay terminal, which is 60%-owned by Cosco.