CMA CGM, France's number one and the world's number three container shipping line, proposes to leave the joint service it currently operates between Europe and India/Pakistan and Gulf in partnerships with two other shipping lines, namely, Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Sud; instead, it proposes to go alone on the route from May.
The new 100 per cent CMA CGM service, according to company sources, will deploy six container ships of 4,200-TEU each, to be replaced soon by higher capacity 6,500-TEU vessels.
The port rotation of the proposed service will be: Tilbury-Hamburg-Anvers-Le Havre-Port Said-Khorfakkan/Jebel Ali-Port Qasim-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-Malta- Tilbury.
"With the introduction of the new service from May, CMA CGM will continue to provide customers with extensive port coverage and competitive transit times between Northern Europe, India, Gulf and Pakistan," says Jean-Francois Guittel, Senior Vice-President in charge of Africa, Oceania and Indian Ocean services, CMA CGM, in a statement.
Operations
CMA CGM currently operates two weekly loops, Epic 1 and Epic 2, in association with Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Sud to serve the trade between Europe and India/Pakistan and the Gulf.
A total of 12 ships are deployed on the service, of which the French line is said to provide seven-four ships of 2,800-TEU capacity each in Epic I and three of 4,250-TEU capacity each in Epic 2.
From May, the restructured Epic services will therefore be operated by Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Sud on a weekly frequency, probably with six 4,000-TEU capacity vessels-six to be provided by Hapag Lloyd and two others by Hamburg Sud, according to shipping sources.
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