Last week, APM Terminals Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico welcomed the first call of Hapag-Lloyd’s East Coast 2 (EC2) service, marked by the arrival of the UMM SALAL.
This vessel carried cargo intended for North American importers, benefiting from Lazaro Cardenas’ strategic location and capacity, bolstered by nearshoring trends and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The EC2 service features a fleet of 12 vessels, each with a nominal capacity of 13,470 TEUs, measuring 366 meters in length, and boasting a gross registered tonnage of 141,077. All these vessels are operated by Hapag-Lloyd.
“For added flexibility, APM Terminals Lazaro Cardenas offers convenient rail connections to and from the U.S. south and south-west. This includes direct block (unit) train routes from Lazaro Cardenas to Houston, Memphis and Dallas together with a streamlined processes for cross-border rail to the USA. Rail loading is extremely fast and efficient at the terminal, due to strategically located on-dock rail facilities, including two dedicated gantry cranes. Full trains can be loaded within the intermodal yard and 99.98% of moves are without a security claim,” commented John Alexander Sanchez Gonzales, commercial manager for APM Terminals Mexico.
Lazaro Cardenas is the sole port on the Mexican Pacific coast that will receive vessels from this service, serving as the first stop after leaving Asia. The East Coast 2 loop operates on a weekly schedule with calls at Qingdao, Yantian, Ningbo, Yangshan, Busan, Lazaro Cardenas, Cartagena, Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, Norfolk, Cartagena, Busan, and back to Qingdao.
“APM Terminals Lazaro Cardenas also offers a direct gateway to an inland depot in Mexico City (APM Terminals Cuautitlan), with more than 250 distribution centres serving more than 20 million consumers within a 20km radius,” said John Alexander Sanchez Gonzales.
