Round the world freight service to call at Malta Freeport

Direct link to Australia, New Zealand Maltese, exporters/importers

The Malta Freeport recently announced that the round-the-world freighting service is to begin calling at its facilities as party of its westbound route. The new service is expected to generate an additional traffic volume of 40,000 TEUs per annum for the Malta Freeport.

The Freeport, along with various other competing ports in the Mediterranean, had been invited to submit its offer for the service and the Malta facility was chosen due to the fact that the service’s main carriers operating the round-the-world service already have other services calling at the Freeport. As such, these shipping lines will be able to use efficiently their present network connections at Malta Freeport.

The round-the-world service will also enable the Maltese importers and exporters to reach various ports in Australia and New Zealand directly without having to send cargo to other ports. This service will heighten opportunities for Maltese entrepreneurs seeking to organise their own niche services.

The round-the-world service will be operated by P&O Nedlloyd, Contship Container Lines, CMA-CGM Group, Hapag-Lloyd Container Line, Hamburg Sud and Marfret Compagnie Maritime. An added advantage to the development is that this service is expected to significantly increase the Freeport’s reefer capacity.

Various international shipping lines have chosen Malta Freeport as their Mediterranean transhipment hub, with the result that the Freeport is currently handling over 1.2 million TEUs per annum and its reputation worldwide is enabling it to secure additional business.

The new two round-the-world loops will replace five services that, until now, have served the Australasian trades. As a result, Australia and New Zealand trades will enjoy much faster connection to European and North American markets. The operators will deploy twelve 2,200 TEU vessels on this route and will serve a number of ports, namely Tilbury, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Dunkerque, Le Havre, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Kingston, Manzanillo, Papeete, Auckland, Noumea, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Fremantle, Jakarta, Singapore, Colombo, Jeddah, Port Said, Damietta, Malta Freeport, La Spezia and Marseille.

Malta Freeport, which currently has connections to 104 ports will step up its network considerably to 121 ports, an increase of 17 ports. Never has the local industry had such efficient connections to so many ports on a regular basis - a major advantage for local industrialists which steps up their competitive edge.