Qingdao Port launched its first direct container shipping route to Mexico on May 19th, in response to the growing export demand in the South American market, enhancing its service capabilities and market competitiveness. This new route will significantly alleviate the tight shipping situation and promote trade between China and Latin America.
EqualOcean learned that around 3:00 PM on May 19th, the container ship “CMA CGM Flora (ALS FLORA),” fully loaded with export goods, slowly departed from Berth 101 at the Qingdao Port Qianwan United Container Terminal in Shandong, marking the launch of Qingdao Port's first container shipping line to Mexico this year. This new service enhances Qingdao Port’s strategic layout in Latin America.
With increasing exports from countries like Mexico and other nations in South America, the demand for shipping capacity on the South America East Coast line has surged. In response, Qingdao Port in Shandong has proactively coordinated with major shipping companies to strengthen the Qingdao to Mexico route and expand shipping capacities.
The “CMA CGM Flora” is the inaugural vessel for CMA CGM's new Mexico route M2X, involving eight container ships each with a capacity of over 4,000 TEUs operating on a weekly basis. The route reaches three major ports on the west coast of Mexico: Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas. Departing from Qingdao, the fastest domestic port in China, it takes only 20 days to reach Ensenada, providing customers with an unobstructed logistics channel and further enhancing the market competitive advantage of import and export businesses primarily in the Yellow River basin area.
EqualOcean also discovered that since the beginning of this year, Qingdao Port in Shandong has worked to further leverage its role as a port, hub, and supporter of local economic development by collaborating with various major shipping companies to increase transport capacities. Subsequently, five new international container routes to the U.S. East Coast, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Mexico were launched. Additionally, Qingdao Port actively coordinated with shipping companies for ship upgrades and enhanced services, including deploying larger vessels to increase container capacity, thus providing more convenient export support measures for customers. In the first quarter, Qingdao Port’s container throughput increased by 11.3% year-over-year, with both North and South American routes achieving double-digit growth in cargo volume. From January to April, the number of operations involving large container ships over 366 meters long increased by 21.20% compared to the same period last year.
According to data retrieved by EqualOcean, from January to May 2024, cargo traffic between China and Mexico surged by 60%, indicating that the opening of the new route will effectively alleviate the tight shipping situation. Moreover, this reflects the increasing focus of Chinese enterprises on the Latin American region, with Mexico emerging as one of the key destinations in Latin America.