TRANSPACIFIC carriers are making more calls to Mexico's Port of Lazaro Cardenas to deliver cargo to US Midwest to avoid using the Panama Canal and its low water restrictions, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.

Increased vessel calls come as Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) looks to grow its intermodal franchise at the port.

Lazaro Cardenas, the second-busiest container port in Mexico after Manzanillo, is already a regular stop for services between Asia and the west coast of South America, but not a regular call for transpacific services that bring Asian cargo to North America.

Zim Integrated Shipping it will add Lazaro Cardenas as a direct call on its eCommerce Baltimore Express (ZXB) service connecting Southeast Asia and China with the US east coast, with the first arrival November 9.

Zim said Lazaro Cardenas represents "an alternative gateway to Dallas, Laredo, Kansas City and Chicago.

Hapag-Lloyd is also expected to start bringing in US-bound freight through Lazaro Cardenas under an agreement the CPKC announced in June. CPKC did not say when the new service would start.

CMA CGM also has been making ad hoc calls to Lazaro Cardenas to circumvent the current draft restrictions for ships transiting the Panama Canal.

Meanwhile, exports from Rotterdam, totaling 4.9 million TEU, were down 6.4 per cent, equivalent to a reduction of 334,000 TEU.

"As we expected, the throughput in the first nine months was lower than last year but is in line with our prognoses," said Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO Boudewijn Siemons.

"The economy has not yet recovered, and this continues to impact throughput figures."