EVERGREEN Marine will upgrade to its Far East-Panama service from April 16 adding port calls and reducing transit times.

New schedules will shorten the run to Central America, the Caribbean and South America's west coast. From Kaohsiung to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico will soon take 16 days instead of 23. Transit times from Shanghai to the Colon Container Terminal on Panama's Caribbean coast will only take 25 days.

Evergreen Far East-Panama service will call at Taiwan, China, Mexico, the Caribbean.

The new service will start from Shanghai April 16 with the sailing of the Irenes Remedy 0046-036, which will call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen (Yantian), Kaohsiung, Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, Colon Container Terminal and return to Ningbo with a round trip of 49 days.

"With the challenges facing the maritime industry, we must be close to the market, providing quality services to meet the needs of the shippers," said a company statement.