The Hindu Business Line : CMA CGM plans to link Chennai with Europe, Australia

Sea service
Service to be operated with 13 ships of 2,800 TEUs each
Of this, the French carrier will offer 9 ships.
Round trip to be completed in 91 days.

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Kolkata Feb. 22 CMA CGM, the world's third largest and France's number one container line , proposes to introduce shortly the New Europe Mascarene Oceania (NEMO) service which will connect Chennai with Australia/New Zealand on the one hand and Europe on the other.

"It will be the first service to offer direct links from Australia/New Zealand to Chennai and from Chennai to Europe," say CMA CGM sources. "It will offer 26 calls and connections across the world via main hubs including Le Havre, Fos, Damietta, Port Kelang, Colombo and Malta," they add.

The port rotation, as the sources point out, will be: Tilbury-Hamburg-Rotterdam-Le Havre-Fos-La Spezia-Damietta-Suez Canal-Djibouti-Pointe des Galets-Port Louis-Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane-<109,89>Auckland-Lyttelton-Melbourne-Adelaide-Jakarta-Port <109>Kelang-Chennai-Colombo-Djibouti-Jeddah-Suez Canal-Damietta-Malta-La Spezia-Tilbury.

Replacement

The service will replace CMA CGM's former Indian Ocean service and complement two other services namely, CMA CGM Panama Direct and CMA CGM Suez Direct until further notice, the sources indicate.

The NEMO service will be operated with 13 modern and fast ships of 2,800 TEUs each, also offering sizeable reefer carrying capacity, and the round trip will be completed in 91 days, first on a fortnightly basis and from May 2007 on a weekly basis.

CMA CGM will offer nine vessels, its subsidiary Delmas three and the VSA partner Deutsche Afrika Linien one. ANL will also give support to the service by providing slots in its vessels.

"CMA CGM Copernic", the first vessel to be deployed on the NEMO service, will leave Hamburg on February 23, the sources add.