LCL express services recommended.

The recent announcement that Crowley Liner Services added a new larger, faster roll-on, roll-off ship to its Central America northern zone service underlines the importance of the need for speed and reliability in the ocean trade lanes.

Although the issue has become critical for manufacturers in China, it is also of great importance in the Caribbean apparel manufacturing ports. That's because the production lines run by manufacturing customers in Miami or the Dominican Republic depend on timely delivery of parts produced in Honduras, Nicaragua or Guatemala. Any interruption in deliveries can lead to costly production delays.

One way around the delays is to combine airfreight with truck delivery, commonly used with perishables arriving in Miami for national distribution and electronic components manufactured in Asia, unpacked in-bond in Miami and delivered to Latin America and the Caribbean.

A slower but more affordable way suggested by some …