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FRENCH shipping line CMA CGM is extending the port rotation of its ECS service that runs between the north coast of South America/Caribbean and northern Europe, to include calls at St Petersburg and Tallinn, thus adding the Baltic to its network before winter.
Rather than sticking to its original port rotation of Cartagena, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Puerto Cortes, Puerto Moin Limon, Kingston, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp and Le Havre before returning to Kingston and Cartagena, the service now continues to St Petersburg and Tallinn on the way back to Hamburg, reports London's Containerisation International.
Scheduled transit time for the banana trade from Puerto Moin Limon to St Petersburg is 22 days, and Kingston will continue to act as a hub to connect with other South and North American services.
The 1,794-TEU BF Ipanema is due to make the first call in St Petersburg on August 23. To maintain a weekly frequency, two ships are being added to the seven vessels that currently operate the ECS service, with a capacity ranging from 1,740 TEU and 2,000 TEU.
The service is expected to revert back to its original port rotation at the start of the winter navigation season in St Petersburg in December as the French vessels are not ice-strengthened.
Asian Shipper News
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