Asia Latin America Freight Market Direction and Capacity Review

The Asia to Latin America market remained relatively active during the first half of May despite the May Day holiday period across China. Carriers adopted aggressive capacity control measures during Golden Week, which tightened vessel space availability significantly and led to stronger loading performance across several LATAM trade lanes.

Following the holiday backlog, the market quickly shifted into a firmer pricing environment. Several carriers implemented consecutive rounds of GRI adjustments across Mexico, WCSA, ECSA, Panama, and Caribbean related services, supported mainly by reduced effective capacity and heavy vessel utilization from origin side.

At the same time, service restructuring and operational adjustments continued across several carrier networks, particularly affecting South China export routings into Mexico and the West Coast South America market.

Below is our latest market observation from Asia origin side for your reference.

Rate Trend for First Half of May

• Carriers across the Mexico and WCSA trade lane implemented multiple rounds of GRI increases during the first half of May following tighter vessel utilization after the May Day holiday period.
• The first round of increases was implemented immediately after the holiday period, followed by additional increases during mid-May as carriers attempted to restore overall market pricing levels.
• The ECSA market also showed stronger upward momentum during early May, with carriers implementing additional GRI adjustments amid improving booking conditions and tighter vessel allocation.
• PA and Caribbean related services maintained relatively firm pricing positioning during the first half of May, supported by stable cargo demand and disciplined capacity deployment from carriers.
• Several carriers experienced severe overbooking situations after reducing available vessel space during Golden Week. In some cases, loading utilization reportedly exceeded normal allocation levels significantly, strengthening carrier confidence in maintaining upward pricing momentum.
• Current market sentiment from origin side suggests carriers will continue attempting to support firmer pricing levels into the second half of May if vessel utilization remains stable.
• Nevertheless, exporters remain relatively cautious toward the pace of increases, especially for highly competitive cargo segments where downstream demand visibility in Latin America remains mixed.

Capacity Forecast for Upcoming Half Month

• WCSA services experienced multiple blank sailings during Week 19 and Week 20, contributing directly to tighter effective capacity across the market during the first half of May.
• Capacity reductions during the May Day Golden Week period significantly tightened vessel space availability, especially from South China origins, where several carriers experienced heavy booking pressure and rolling situations.
• CMA CGM announced the cancellation of the M2X service. Following this adjustment, CMA will no longer maintain a direct South China service into the MX/WCSA market.
• Under the revised structure, South China cargo will mainly rely on PEX2 and PEX3 services connecting through Central China before transferring onto the ACSA1 service.
• CMA’s updated ACSA1 rotation now includes:
  Busan – Tianjin – Qingdao – Ningbo – Shanghai – Manzanillo – Lazaro Cardenas – Buenaventura – Callao – San Antonio – Chancay – Posorja.
• This restructuring is expected to increase transshipment dependency for certain South China export cargo while potentially increasing operational complexity for some routings.
• Vessel space availability during the first half of May remained relatively tight overall due to holiday-related capacity controls and blank sailing arrangements.

Any Other Factors Directly Influencing the Market

• Mexico customs authorities continue strengthening inspection controls on illegal cargo activities, particularly involving gray-channel trading, unlicensed imports, and tax-evasion related cargo structures. Exporters and forwarders are advised to ensure cargo declaration and documentation compliance remains strictly aligned.
• Mexico’s major Pacific gateway ports continued handling strong cargo throughput during Q1 2026. Manzanillo terminal throughput exceeded historical records, surpassing one million TEU volume during the quarter.
• Lazaro Cardenas terminal operations remained under congestion pressure in selected terminals, with elevated yard utilization levels and intermittent berth congestion continuing through early May.
• Latin American economies continue showing mixed recovery conditions entering 2026. While infrastructure investment and nearshoring related imports into Mexico remain relatively active, broader regional consumer demand recovery still varies significantly between countries.
• Nearshoring and manufacturing diversification trends continue supporting medium-term cargo demand into Mexico and selected LATAM markets, particularly for industrial products, electronics, automotive related cargo, and project shipments.
• Carriers remain highly focused on operational profitability and vessel utilization management following prolonged market volatility over the past year. Additional tactical blank sailings and capacity adjustments may still occur depending on booking momentum moving into the second half of May.

RS Logistics will continue monitoring carrier pricing strategies, capacity deployment adjustments, operational developments, and overall market direction closely across the Asia-LATAM trade lane. We remain committed to sharing timely origin market intelligence to support our overseas partners in managing customer expectations and shipment planning more effectively.

Should you require any additional market insight or shipment support from Asia origin, please feel free to contact our team anytime.

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