New services calling Costa Rica provide opportunities for neighboring countries

• Starting in May, Costa Rica will have a permanent commercial relationship with the Israeli shipping company ZIM, and the U.S. shipping company Sealand, which is part of the Maersk group.
• These new services will allow Costa Rican exporters and importers to have greater access to strategic commercial points with a faster connection.

Costa Rica welcomed two new shipping services at the Moín Container Terminal (TCM) this month. The maiden call of the Venezuela Line (VEL) service operated by the ZIM shipping line called the TCM on 17 May and the South Atlantic Express (SAE) service, operated by shipping line, Sealand on May 1.

"Both shipping services improve the country's connectivity with key consumer markets, providing new options for the Costa Rican export sector to access main markets, as well as for the import sector, which will also benefit from these new trade routes," explained José Rueda, General Manager of APM Terminals Moín.

The new SAE service will provide Costa Rican exporters with a faster connection from Costa Rica to Honduras and Guatemala. In addition, it also offers a direct call to Port Everglades with just six days transit time.

The SAE service will call the ports of Manzanillo (Panama) - Puerto Moin (Costa Rica) - Puerto Cortes (Honduras) - Puerto Barrios (Guatemala) - Port Everglades (Florida) - Wilmington (North Carolina) - Norfolk (Virginia) - Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) in its northern rotation. For its north to south rotation, it will cover the ports of: Norfolk - Philadelphia - Wilmington - Savannah (Georgia) - Port Everglades - Santo Tomas De Castilla (Guatemala) - Puerto Cortes - Manzanillo - Puerto Moín.

ZIM's differentiated intra-Caribbean service will provide short transit times and seamless connections between Costa Rica, Venezuela and its main hub in Jamaica. The VEL Service will call Kingston (Jamaica) - La Guaira (Venezuela) - Puerto Cabello (Venezuela) - Moín (Costa Rica) - Kingston (Jamaica).

Nicaragua and Northern Panama

These new services are expected to increase the attractiveness of routing cargo from neighboring countries, such as Nicaragua and northern Panama, through Costa Rica and the TCM due to increased frequency.

"These new maritime transport services were added to the terminals weekly schedule thanks to the outstanding cooperations between different departments at APM Terminals Moín,” explains Rueda. “Preventive maintenance ensures that the dock has a high utilization rate, receiving between 19 and 21 ships per week.”

Improved operating efficiency frees up quay space

“The Terminal's operational performance has also improved significantly, increasing the number of movements per hour per crane and reducing the number of vessels per hour per crane. This frees up availability at the quayside throughout the week, allowing the terminal to add additional services for the region," he concludes.

ZIM is an Israeli-owned shipping company and is one of the top 20 shipping lines in the world. Sealand is a registered trademark in the United States and belongs to the Danish company AP Moller

Maersk. Historically, Sealand's SAE called Costa Rica, prior to TCM becoming operational. The last ship from shipping line ZIM to visit the country was approximately 11 years ago.