DP World Chennai welcomes Maersk Line’s ICON service

Chennai Container Terminal (CCT) on Monday welcomed the newest addition to the list of main line services calling at the terminal, Exim News Service reported. At a small ceremony held on board the m.v. Maersk Miami, Mr Atulya Misra, IAS, Chairman of Chennai Port Trust (ChPT), welcomed Maersk Line’s first direct service to North Europe, in the company of Mr Ennarasu Karunesan, CEO, DP World Chennai, Mr Santosh Kumar Singh, General Manager-Sales, Maersk Line and other members from ChPT, DP World Chennai and Maersk Line.


Mr Rizwan Soomar, Managing Director, Maersk Line (India & Sri Lanka), said, "With excellent transit times from Chennai (India) to Felixstowe (UK), this is a fast product and well suited for all our customers in time-sensitive industries like apparel and retail.


This also addresses our customers’ long standing demand for a direct product from South India to Europe which helps in achieving better efficiency in supply chains and reducing overheads for our customers."


Mr Ennarasu Karunesan, Director and CEO, DP World Chennai, thanked Maersk Line for having unwavering faith and confidence in the services provided by DP World Chennai, and said, "With the launch of the ICON service, Maersk Line will now have 2 direct services calling at CCT. Setting the benchmarks for productivity for South/East India, DP World Chennai is consolidating itself as the preferred gateway for the ex-im trade fraternity."


The need for faster connectivity to north Europe base ports is growing in South India, especially with the increase in export of major commodities like tobacco, garments, granite, seafood, mango pulp, footwear, sugar and made-ups. The India Colombo North Europe (ICON) service will link South and East India to North Europe and will provide the trade with direct, dedicated and faster transit times to the region.


With the launch of the service, major retail giants like Debenhams, Tesco, Carrefour, etc. can now avail of a faster and reliable connection for importing garments and textiles from one of the world’s largest sourcing areas in South Asia. It would take only 20 days for the cargo leaving Chennai to reach Zeebrugge, 21 days to Felixstowe in UK, 23 days to Rotterdam and 24 days to Bremerhaven. Direct connectivity from Chennai will also benefit exporters, with considerable cost and time savings due to the elimination of transhipment and extra handling at Colombo. On the eastbound trip, the service will be useful to Subcontinental importers of automobiles, chemicals, waste paper and scrap metal for reprocessing.


The ICON service deploys 7 x 3,400-TEU capacity vessels and has the following port rotation: Chennai, Colombo, Salalah, Zeebrugge, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Salalah, Colombo, Chennai.
(Source:http://www.transportweekly.com)