CMA CGM reinforces EPIC service between India, Pakistan, the Middle East and Europe

CMA CGM announced lst week the upgrading of its EPIC service between India, Pakistan, the Middle East and North Europe (5 ports served directly).

The move will see following enhancements:

•     A new westbound call at Port Said as of 30 March, 2011, which will significantly improve transit times to the eastern Mediterranean, reducing the trip by 4 days to Lattakia (Syria) and Istanbul (Turkey), 6 days to Mersin (Turkey) and 7 days to Beirut (Lebanon),
•     Replacement of the Salalah call by Khor Fakkan, to liaise with the MASCAREIGNES line serving the Indian Ocean,
•     The deployment of an efficient and homogeneous fleet of 8 ships with a nominal capacity of 5,700 TEUs.

    CMA CGM therefore offers its customers multiple destinations from the Indian subcontinent to the Middle East and North Europe thanks to calls at major transshipment ports in the Mediterranean:

•     Tangiers for West Africa and Latin America,
•    Malta for the western Mediterranean,
•     Khor Fakkan for the Indian Ocean,
•    Port Said for the Adriatic Sea, Black Sea, Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Egypt), Turkey and Greece.

“The addition of a call in Port Said is the main asset of this new service and will significantly reduce our transit times to the Eastern Mediterranean. This new configuration meets the growing demand of our Indian and Pakistani customers exporting agricultural, textile and chemical products, as well as refrigerated goods, to markets in the Middle East, Black Sea and Turkey”, said Christophe de La Ferrière, Senior Manager Indian Subcontinent / Europe Lines.

The new EPIC service rotation, effective since 19 March, is as follows: Southampton - Rotterdam - Hamburg - Antwerp - Le Havre - Port Said (East) - Khor Fakkan - Jebel Ali - Port Qasim - Nhava Sheva - Mundra - Jeddah - Port Said (East) - Malta - Tangiers – Southampton.