The Hindu Business Line : New container service between S. America and Arabian Gulf

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Kolkata Jan. 24 CMA CGM, the world's third largest container line and France's number one, proposes to launch a new service, "Vasco Express," between South America (East Coast) and the Arabian Gulf, also linking the Red Sea, India and South Africa, according to company sources.

The proposed weekly service, to be launched around the middle of next month, will deploy eight vessels of the capacity of 1,700 TEUs each and a reefer capacity involving 350 reefer plugs. The objective of launching the "Vasco Express," as the sources explain, is to meet mainly the growing demand for traffic, particularly refrigerated traffic, between South America and the West Asia.

The port rotation will be: Rio de Janeiro - Santos - Paranagua - Itajai - Rio Grande - Salalah - Khor Fakkan - Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal - Port Louis - Durban - Rio de Janeiro with a competitive transit time of 20 days between Rio Grande and Khor Fakkan, the sources point out. The port of Salalah will be used to serve the Red Sea market with the shipping line's dedicated feeders.

The first vessel, "MV CMA CGM RIO-GRANDE," is to leave Brazil on February 13, the sources add.