Box lines revise services in Europe

LONDON : Aiming to optimise and improve their network, several container lines have announced changes in their European services.

First of all, CMA CGM has decided to revise its GTL service again. According to Dyna Liners report, the French ocean carrier will remove Benghazi, Malta (one of the visits), Piraeus and Port Said from the service’s port rotation, while it will include Damietta and Misurata in the rotation.

CMA CGM deploys four 1,200 TEU container vessels on the GTL service with the following updated rotation: Thessaloniki (Greece) – Damietta (Egypt) – Beirut (Lebanon), Iskenderun (Turkey) – Malta (Italy) – Tripoli (Lebanon) – Misurata (Libya) – Thessaloniki

Additionally, Cosco Shipping Lines and Diamond Line have upgraded AGT service, according to Alphaliner. The two companies will add a third vessel, improving the frequency of the service from around once every ten days to weekly.

The three 1,800 TEU boxships will operate in the following rotation: Piraeus (Greece) – Koper (Slovenia) – Venice (Italy) – Ancona (Italy) – Piraeus – Thessaloniki, Izmir (Turkey) – Piraeus

Furthermore, Unifeeder announced a new container service linking the port of Piraeus to Cyrpus, Israel and Egypt. The new Piraeus-East Med Service will be operated by two vessels with an average capacity of 1,100 TEUs with the following rotation: Piraeus – Alexandria (Egypt) – Damietta – Ashdod (Israel) – Haifa (Israel) – Limassol (Cyprus) – Piraeus

Moreover, Boluda and Samskip will cooperate on a joint service between Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Using a Boluda ship of 800 TEUs, the service will connect a new terminal at Santander in Spain with UK’s Liverpool port and Ireland’s Dublin port.