SIMIC

The new weekly pendulum service is a result of a reshuffling of the company's SSL INTRAMED services and will commence from Week 23. The m/v Contship Fun is set to depart Ambarli on June 8, 2022, and will be the first vessel to be deployed on the service, reports London's Port Technology.

A fleet of three containerships with an average capacity of 1,100 TEU will be deployed on the route. The full port rotation of the service is: Ambarli (Turkey), Gebze (Turkey), Aliaga (Turkey), Barcelona (Spain), Marseille (France), Bejaia (Algeria), Annaba (Algeria) and returning Ambarli.

Transit times between destinations are: Aliaga to Barcelona (four days); Aliaga to Marseille (six days); Aliaga to Bejaia (nine days) and Marseille to Bejaia (one day).

"This West Turkey - Spain/France Express service will provide new gateway possibilities to route your cargo destined to other Western Europe locations," said CMA CGM in a statement.

"This greener option aiming at optimising your transportation lead-time, frequency, and costs is a consistent alternative to traditional truck flows from Turkey to Western Europe."

In other recent news, the CMA CGM Group has implemented a new Early Container Return Incentive Programme at several of its terminals in the US to accelerate the return of empty containers and improve supply chain velocity.

The programme started May 16 and will continue until June 15 at the Fenix Marine Services (FMS) terminal in the Port of Los Angeles and all CMA CGM return locations in Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City and Memphis.