CMA CGM's MEX service offers direct Japan-Mediterranean link

 

CMA CGM has announced the upgrading of its MEX Asia-Mediterranean service to include direct calls at Nagoya, Yokohama and Kobe from mid-May 22.

This service starts with the sailing of the CMA CGM Straus from Nagoya on the following rotation: Nagoya, Yokohama, Kobe, Pusan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Shenzhen (Chiwan), Hong Kong, Port Kelang, Beirut, Malta, Valencia, Barcelona, Marseilles (Fos), Genoa, Naples, Malta, Damietta, Djibouti, Khorfakkan, Port Kelang, Shenzhen (Chiwan) and back to Nagoya.

The loop, deploying 10 ships in the 5,700-TEU class, will offer direct connections at competitive transit times from Japan to the full range of west and east Mediterranean ports, said the company statement.

Through our hubs at Malta and Damietta, the MEX service will offer reliable and efficient connections from all ports in the Adriatic, east Mediterranean and Black Sea to Japan, said the CMA CGM statement.

The Japan market was the missing direct link in our Asia-Med and Med-Asia coverage and the MEX service corrects this, said CMA CGM vice president Christine Cabau.

Marseilles's CMA CGM, the world's third largest container line, employs 16,700 people and operates 350 ships, 90 of them company-owned and which call at 400 ports. In 2008, the company handled 8.9 million TEU in 150 countries through 650 agencies.

Source: Transportweekly