Service Announcements: CMA CGM and CaroTrans

CMA CGM receives its largest containership ever and alters EURAF 4 loop, while CaroTrans launches direct Le Havre-to-Charleston LCL service.    Ocean carrier CMA CGM took delivery of the 17,722-TEU containership CMA CGM Kerguelen. Now the largest ship in its fleet, the 398-meters long and 54-meters wide mega-vessel is larger than the Eiffel Tower and wider than the Arc de Triomphe, according to the French liner company.
   CMA CGM said the vessel will be deployed on its flagship French Asia Line (FAL1), which connects ports in Asia with North Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater reporting, the FAL1, part of the Ocean3 vessel sharing agreement between CMA CGM, United Arab Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Line, is operated with 11 vessels with an average capacity of 14,139 TEUs. The port rotation of the service is Southampton, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Malta, Khor Fakkan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian, Port Kelang, Tangiers, and back to Southampton.
   The first in a series of six ships of equal capacity to be delivered this year, the CMA CGM Kerguelen was named after the 18th-century French navigator Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec.
   CMA CGM will also alter its Europe Afrique 4 (EURAF 4) feeder service between Tangiers in the Mediterranean and West Africa. Beginning with the sailing of the Merkur Bay from Tangiers April 22, CMA CGM will drop a call at Douala, Cameroon, and add a second, northbound call at Lomé, Togo.
   The revised port rotation of the EURAF 4 will be Tangiers, Lomé, Cotonou, Port Gentil, Libreville, Lomé, and back to Tangiers. The carrier said in a statement the changes were made “to improve service reliability.”

   CaroTrans has launched a new expedited less-than-container load import service from Le Havre, France to Charleston, South Carolina.
   The NVOCC and ocean freight consolidator said in a statement the new service is the only direct LCL connection between the two ports and has a 12-day transit to Charleston with a maximum of three additional days to destinations in the U.S. South Atlantic region. Departing from Le Havre “eliminates the congestion, delays and additional handling associated with routing via Antwerp,” said CaroTrans.
   CEO Greg Howard said of the new service, “Our Le Havre office was established in 2012 as a platform for future growth.  We are pleased to see this come to fruition as we announce another fast-to-market, direct import service from Le Havre.”