New CMA CGM service to connect Mediterranean, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico

MEDGULF service will call at Houston.    CMA CGM will launch a new weekly container service to will connect the Mediterranean region with ports on the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean islands.
   The new MEDGULF service will complement CMA CGM’s AMERIGO service between the Middle East and Mediterranean and ports on the U.S. East Coast.
   CMA CGM said it will deploy a fleet six 1,700 TEU vessels on the following direct weekly rotation: Tangiers, Livorno, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Caucedo, Kingston, Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, and back to Tangiers. The first voyage will commence April 24 from Livorno.
   According to ocean carrier and schedule database BlueWater Reporting, the joint Amerigo Express (AMERIGO/AMEREX) with Hanjin and United Arab Shipping Co. operates with 11 vessels with an average capacity of 5,946 TEUs. It has a port rotation of Khor Fakkan, Dubai, Karachi, Mumbai (Nhava Sheva), Mundra, Jeddah, Port Said, Leghorn, La Spezia, Genoa, Marseilles, Barcelona, Valencia, Tangiers, New York/NJ, Norfolk, Savannah, Miami, Valencia, Barcelona, Leghorn, Genoa, Malta, Port Said, Jeddah, and back to Khor Fakkan.
   CMA CGM highlighted what it said would be a “unique and direct rotation from Houston to Tangiers” and attractive transit times from Mexico and Houston to Spain and Italy that it said should be attractive to shippers of refrigerated cargo.