Sparx Logistics in April will start an ocean and rail service to connect Asia with Houston using the Port of Lazaro Cardenas.
The logistics company Sparx Logistics is starting a new ocean and rail service to connect Asia with Houston using the Port of Lazaro Cardenas, a company executive told American Shipper this week.
The new service will leverage committed space on Maersk Line’s AC3 service, which calls at a handful of ports in China, South Korea, and Japan, and in Lazaro Cardenas. Containers will then move on-dock via Kansas City Southern rail at the Mexican port to Laredo, Texas before transferring to the Kendleton, Texas rail hub near Houston.
Jane Goh, head of business solutions at Sparx, said the service was designed to give shippers wanting to tap into the growing Houston market an alternative solution to the Southern California ports gateway or all-water service to Houston. In particular, the service is intended to help shippers who want to avoid long rail dwell times out of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which can regularly stretch to five or as many as 10 days.
She said the Sparx service fits in between using Southern California or all-water services in terms of cost and transit time. The company estimates transit time to Houston using the Lazaro gateway would be 24 days from Yokohama, 25 from Busan, 27 from Shanghai, 28 from Ningbo, and 30 from Qingdao. Of that time, three days are set aside for vessel discharge and rail loading, and six days for the rail transit.
Those transit times compare favorably to all-water options from those ports to Houston, which range from 25 days from Busan to 35 days from Yokohama. Apart from the transit time advantage, there’s also the issue of capacity constraints into the Texas port, Goh said. They also compare favorably to the shorter transit times through Southern California when factoring in current dwell times.
In terms of price, the Lazaro service would be between pricing to Southern California and all-water to Houston, where capacity constraints have driven up rates.
According to the liner shipping data provider BlueWater Reporting, there is currently 15,351 TEUs of weekly deployed capacity on three services between Asia and Houston.
Meanwhile, there is 44,783 TEUs of weekly deployed capacity between Asia and Lazaro Cardenas across five services, including the Maersk AC3. BlueWater Reporting shows 197,962 TEUs of weekly deployed capacity from Asia to Los Angeles and Long Beach via 24 services.
Goh said the service will be handled by C-TPAT certified facilities throughout, from on-dock rail loading at the secure terminal in Lazaro Cardenas, non-stop unit train to Laredo, and unloading at the Kendleton railhead.
The service will commence in April, with electronics and consumer goods shippers already signed on to participate. Goh said she sees the service as appealing to manufactured goods shippers, particularly those in the home goods and furniture verticals.
Sparx will have dedicated space for the service on AC3 sailings to Lazaro. According to BlueWater Reporting, the AC3 is scheduled to change slightly in early April, with Maersk dropping Mediterranean Shipping Co., Hapag-Lloyd and MOL and slot takers on the service. No change to the rotation has yet been finalized.
LSP to offer shippers alternative Asia-Houston routing
