CMA CGM Group said it is increasing the size of ships on the butterfly Columbus service that connects Asia with Pacific Northwest ports on one leg and the U.S. East Coast via the Suez Canal on its other leg.
“We have decided to optimize the Columbus service to keep pace with our customer needs while offering a high quality service,” said Jean-Philippe Thenoz, senior vice president of North America lines.
"In response to the growing market demand on the Asia-transpacific lines, the fleet was recently homogenized with the introduction of the latest generation 6,250-TEU vessels," the company added.
It made its remarks as the CMA CGM Rabelais, a 6,500-TEU ship called Seattle on July 19, which it said replaced a 5,100-TEU ship.
CMA said that it would eventually replace all of its 5,100-TEU ships in the service with larger vessels, such as the Rabelais.
The port rotation for the service is Seattle, Vancouver, Yokohama, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Yantian, Tanjung Pelapas, Suez Canal, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Suez Canal, Tanjung Pelapas, Hong Kong, Yantian, Shanghai, Pusan and Seattle.
Maersk supplies eight ships in the service and CMA CGM seven.
A spokeswoman said the company is also doing a test with an 8,500-TEU vessel in the service, utilizing the CMA CGM Figaro.
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