CMA CGM Upgrades Europe-Africa Service
Worldwide shipping firm the CMA CGM Group announced plans to upgrade its services joining Europe to Africa, altering its EURAF 1, EURAF 2 and EURAF 4 services with the goal of providing a more complete service offering to Africa, North Europe and the Mediterranean.
The EURAF 1 service, that connects North European to West African markets, will add a call at London Containers Terminal – Tilbury each week. This new call will directly join the United Kingdom to Africa, and the service will provide competitive transit times allowing the export of banana Reefer containers from West Africa to England. The inaugural call of the rotation in Tilbury took place on August 10. Algeciras used to be called only once on the previous rotation. It will now be called twice: at the exit of Europe and between Africa and North Europe. Six vessels with a capacity of 3,500 TEUs each will sail the following rotation: Tilbury, Le Havre, Montoir de Bretagne, Algeciras, Tangiers, Dakar, Abidjan, Dakar, Algeciras, Dunkirk, Antwerp, Tilbury.
Starting September 12, the EURAF 2 service will be upgraded with the addition of a new weekly call at the Nigerian port of Apapa. Hamburg and the African markets will be connected via the FEMEX service and the connections the CMA CGM Group provides from its Tangiers hub. An additional vessel will be operated on the new EURAF 2, that will count 4 3,500 TEUs vessels. The new rotation will be: Algeciras, Tincan, Apapa, Tema, Tangiers, Algeciras.
Starting August 13, the EURAF 4 service will call Marseilles. The service connects West Africa to many worldwide markets through its calls in Italy, Spain, and the CMA CGM hub of Malta that offers connections to East Mediterranean, Red and Black Seas and North African markets. Seven vessels with a capacity of 2,200 to 2,700 TEUs each will call each week: Malta, Livorno, Genoa, Marseilles, Barcelona, Valencia, Tangiers, Cotonou, Lomé, Port Gentil, Libreville, Tangiers and Malta.
Jean-Yves Duval, CMA CGM Vice President Africa lines, said, “CMA CGM constantly works at improving its offering between North Europe, the Mediterranean and West Africa. The coverage of all African markets is ensured by the Tangiers and Algeciras hub strategy that enables CMA CGM to provide its clients the best services and transit times. Those services are settled to respond to African exporters needs, including their Reefer containers demands. Those improvements have one single objective: satisfying our clients the best we can.”
CMA CGM has been present in Africa since 2001 and the launching of its WAX service, reinforced by its acquisition of Delmas in 2006. CMA CGM now calls 28 ports in West Africa. The group said it develops its presence by strengthening its maritime services and pursuing its inland development.
