International Maritime

Small carriers adding Asia-Mexico capacity despite rate pressure

By Laura Robb and Keith Wallis

A consortium of seven regional Asia-based carriers will expand into the long-haul trans-Pacific trade in April with a joint North Asia-Mexico weekly express service, bringing at least 15,000 TEUs of new capacity to the growing trade. But forwarders say spot rates may already be under pressure due to overcapacity.

Each of the seven carriers will provide one vessel with a nominal capacity of between 2,200 to 2,800 TEUs, Dubai’ s Emirates Shipping said. Other carriers in the service group include Hong Kong-listed TS Lines, Singapore-headquartered SeaLead, Thailand’ s Regional Container Lines, Sinotrans Container Line from China, and South Korean carriers Korea Marine Transport Company and Sinokor Merchant Marine.

The full rotation for the service is Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Manzanillo( Mexico) and back to Shanghai, with a transit time of 21 days to Manzanillo from Busan, 23 days from Qingdao and 25 days from Shanghai, the carriers confirmed. Emirates Shipping said the total roundtrip voyage will be 49 days. The new service launches from Shanghai on April 30. Of the seven carriers, only SeaLead has Asia-America services.

“ Our new Asia Mexico Express service strengthens links between China, South Korea, and Mexico, enabling faster cargo transportation,” said Bernd Meyer, SeaLead’ s global director of sales and business development.

The new service comes ahead of an expected decline in China-Mexico freight rates as traditional long-haul carriers, including Ocean Network Express( ONE), add further capacity on the trade in April.

“ In the current context, with weekly vessel capacity reaching historic highs and the uncertainty generated by the US-led trade war, vessel utilization is below 50 % again, causing the short-term rate to accelerate its decline during March, targeting $ 1,500 per [ FEU ],” Nicolas Portenza, president of forwarder Eternity México, said in a March 12 report.“ This situation could lead to the lowest [ China – Mexico ocean freight rate [ on the China-Mexico trade ] in the last five years.”

“ This situation could lead to the lowest ocean freight rate in the last five years.”

The new service from the Asia-based carriers would seem to come at an odd time for the trade.

“ China – Mexico rates are almost back at where they were [ a year and a half ] ago,” Peter Sand, chief analyst at online benchmarking platform Xeneta, told the Journal of Commerce.“ In terms of capacity, currently the China-Mexico market seems to be satisfied.”

Nevertheless, carriers are trying to boost rates. Hapag-Lloyd, for example, issued a general rate increase( GRI) on March 17 for shipments from Asia to the West Coast of South America, the East Coast of South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The GRI should go into effect on April 1, adding $ 500 per TEU and $ 1,000 per FEU for high cube and reefer containers.

email: keithwallis @ hotmail. com email: laura. robb @ spglobal. com

A new joint service will offer transit times of between 21 and 25 days from Asia to Manzanillo( pictured). JRomero04 / Shutterstock. com www. joc. com April 7, 2025 | Journal of Commerce 19