As of June, the Far East–East Coast South America trade corridor is served by nine regular services, up from six a year ago, according to DynaLiners.
This growth follows the launch of three new services: Carioca by MSC, ASAS2/SEAS3 operated jointly by CMA CGM and Maersk, and FL2/SX2, a collaboration between HMM and Ocean Network Express (ONE).
The expansion has driven a significant 36% increase in annual trade capacity, pushing total capacity on the corridor to 2.8 million TEUs.
However, the new services are primarily operated with smaller vessels, which has led to a drop in the average ship size by approximately 1,000 TEUs, now standing at 9,200 TEUs.
In terms of market presence, the CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen, Pacific International Lines (PIL), and Yang Ming grouping emerges as the dominant player in the corridor, significantly ahead of MSC.
Following closely are the joint operations of Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, and, once again, MSC through various service partnerships.
This evolving landscape reflects the growing demand on the FE–ECSA route, while also highlighting shifts in vessel deployment strategy and competitive positioning among major global carriers.
