CMA CGM upgrades ships on Europe/Caribbean/Brazil service

CMA CGM upgrades ships on Europe/Caribbean/Brazil service CMA CGM is introducing faster and bigger capacity ships on to its joint weekly service with Marfret between Europe, Guyana and North Brazil.
   The 1,700-TEU “CMA CGM Herodote” was the largest vessel ever to berth at Saint Maarten on April 1, and will repeat the achievement at Degrad des Cannes, French Guyana on April 6. Three other sister ships in the series, all built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea, will join the service by October. All four of the vessels will be owned by the French line and will be fitted with 240 reefer plugs, three times more than current vessels, enabling them to load the equivalent of 480 TEUs of reefer cargo.
   The vessels are also equipped with two thrusters so they can berth and maneuver without a tug, and have three cranes (two 45-ton cranes and one 30-ton crane) to handle containers in ports without such equipment.
   “These new vessels are larger, faster and they have been specially designed to cope with the nautical constraints of the area,” said Nicole Chamard, CMA CGM’s director of Mediterranean/Caribbean and Europe/Guyana, North Brazil lines. “Our customers will therefore benefit from an improved quality of service, with faster transit time, and better opportunities to expand their business in the coming years.”
   The service uses six vessels, four from CMA CGM and two from Marfret, calling Cadiz, Leixoes, Rotterdam, Tilbury, Rouen, Le Havre, Saint Maarten, Port of Spain, Degrad des Cannes, Belem, Fortaleza, Natal and back to Cadiz.