French and Chinese container shipping companies CMA CGM and CSCL are expected to launch their new joint VLCS loop, the FAL 4/AEX 8 in July.
The new service will call at Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian, Nansha and Port Kelang and will then head directly to Zeebrugge, Hamburg and Rotterdam, from where it will return to Shanghai. The low number of calls is compatible with a service speed allowing fuel savings, said a report by AXS Alphaliner News.
A statement issued by CMA CGM said the new service will use Zeebrugge as its first discharge port in Europe because it does not suffer from congestion and "offers one of the best intermodal connectivities in Europe into the Benelux and German hinterland."
The FAL 4 will deploy the four new 9,661-TEU ships that CMA CGM chartered from CP Offen, namely the CMA CGM Orfeo, the CMA CGM Pelleas, the CMA CGM Butterfly, the CMA CGM Ivanhoe plus four of CSCL's 9,580-TEU ships that had previously been used on the AEX 1 loop, the report added.
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