CMA CGM adds 7th ship to RTW Panama loop

CMA CGM adds 7th ship to RTW Panama loop CMA CGM will add a seventh ship to its joint Tour du Monde (round the world) Panama Direct service connecting Europe, the U.S. East Coast, Central America and Oceania, to increase capacity and improve the sailing schedule.
   The vessel 'CMA CGM Utrillo' will early next month be inserted between two consecutive fortnightly sailings of the present vessel sequence, thus providing weekly departures for a span of three weeks before reverting to fortnightly.
   'This upgrading of line frequency is the first stage of a plan to progressively improve the service through an increased number of sailings per annum and responds to customers demand for a more frequent and fixed day direct service,' said Jean-Louis Bellencourt, senior manager Europe-Oceania lines at CMA CGM.
   The service will use seven ships averaging about 2,200 TEUs calling Tilbury; Rotterdam; Dunkirk; Le Havre; New York; Norfolk, Va.;    Savannah, Ga.; Manzanillo, Panama; Cristobal, Panama; Papeete, Tahiti; Noumea, New Caledonia; Brisbane; Sydney; Melbourne; Auckland; Cristobal; Manzanillo; Savannah; Philadelphia; and Tilbury again.
   Hapag-Lloyd (two ships) and Marfret (one vessel) provide the rest of the tonnage on the service while CMA CGM's Australian subsidiary ANL Container Line also takes slots.