Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk (including its affiliates Hamburg Sud and Sealand Americas) are to extend for a further six weeks port call suspensions at Norfolk, Charleston and Port Everglades on their USEC - ECSA ‘SEC’ / ‘(New) Tango’ service to adapt to continuing congestion issues on the US East Coast.

In February both carriers had decided to remove the call at Norfolk and serve Charleston and Port Everglades on a fortnightly basis for a period of twelve weeks. This protocol will now continue for a further month-and-a half from June.

The ‘SEC / New Tango’ calls at New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk (skipped), Charleston (1/2), Jacksonville, Port Everglades (1/2), Santos, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Itapoa, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Pecem, New York. This loop uses a proforma fleet of seven vessels with capacities ranging from 4,100 to 6,500 teu.

Meanwhile Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will continue to serve Baltimore and Charleston fortnightly on their Cartagena-Manzanillo / USEC ‘USW / NAE 2’ weekly service for another six weeks from the end of May.

In April, both carriers had announced that they would only serve Baltimore and Charleston on alternate sailings for an initial period of six weeks, to address congestion problems in US East Coast ports.

The ‘USW/NAE 2’ service calls at Cartagena (Col), Manzanillo (Pan), Port Everglades, New York, Baltimore (1/2), Charleston (1/2, Port Everglades, Cartagena (Col.) using three ships of 3,800-4,500 teu.