CMA CGM starts high-vessel capacity service at Tangier hub

The CMA CGM Group said Friday is has begun operations in the Moroccan port of Tangier, with the call of the 8,500-TEU CMA CGM La Traviata, deployed on the FAL1 service linking Asia to Europe.

The ship is the first CMA CGM high-capacity vessel to call at the new Tanger Med I container terminal since it opened in August. CMA CGM holds a 40 percent share of the terminal, including 20 percent through its Moroccan subsidiary Comanav, which the French carrier acquired in May 2007.

Tanger Med is bound to become a strategic hub for the CMA CGM Group, an inescapable crossroads for goods proceeding from Asia, the United States and Latin America to the Maghreb, West Africa and the southern tip of the European continent,?the carrier said in a statement.

The terminal is designed to handles 1.3 million TEUs, and has eight quay cranes, 21 rubber-tire gantry cranes and 800 meters of berth.

The FAL1 service will have a weekly stop at Tangier on the road between Asia and Europe, with direct connections on two new Delmas (a subsidiary of CMA CGM Group) services linking Tangier and major West African ports. FAL1 volumes proceeding from Asia will be discharged every week in Tangier and transshipped to West Africa, while a dedicated feeder network will service the Moroccan and Portuguese markets.

CMA CGM also said the FAL1 service complements its three services linking Asia and West Africa.