Malta Freeport Terminals is pleased to announce that the 17,722 TEU CMA CGM KERGUELEN, the Group's largest vessel, called at the Port of Marsaxlokk yesterday 26th May. This vessel, which is the largest ever to call at the Freeport, has outstanding dimensions including a length of 398 metres, a width of 54 metres, reefer plugs amounting to 1,254, a draft of 16 metres and is equipped with all the latest environmental technologies.
This vessel, which will be calling regularly at the Freeport was deployed on the French Asia Line (FAL1) Service which is operated by the Ocean Three Alliance. This alliance commenced calling at the Freeport early this year and is made up of CMA CGM, China Shipping Container Lines and United Arab Shipping Corporation (UASC). The last five ports of calls of CMA CGM KERGUELEN before calling at Malta Freeport Terminals were Le Havre, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Southampton. After Malta Freeport the vessel will be calling at the ports of Khorfakkan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian, Port Kelang and Tanger Med.
The container vessel was built by Samsung Heavy Industries and sails under the UK flag.CMA CGM KERGUELEN is the first of 6 vessels of the same size series that will enter the fleet in 2015 and join the 445 vessels of the Group. Such investment is a major strategic asset for the CMA CGM Group which is strengthening the carrier's competitiveness and contributes to its continuous growth.
This vessel was christened in Le Havre, France on 12th May 2015. The christening took place in the presence of Jacques R. Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CMA CGM Group, of Mrs Catherine Hayot, the vessel's godmother, and of many institutional and political representatives, partners and clients.
The CEO of Malta Freeport Terminals, Mr Alex Montebello remarked that "the call at Malta Freeport of a vessel with this exceptional magnitude was possible as a result of the remarkable investment undertaken by the Freeport in its facilities since being privatised in 2004 amounting to over Eur210 million". Mr Montebello continued stating that "the Freeport has recently extended the North Quay of Terminal Two to 513 metres to be able to effectively handle 18,000 TEU vessels and over and has also heavily invested in Quayside and Yard Cranes and various ancillary yard equipment. Furthermore, the Company increased its workforce, organised intensive training programmes for its employees and implemented new work practices and initiatives to step up the performance levels being attained. Such investment was complemented by an extensive dredging programme of all the mainline berths and the fairway to -17 metres LAT."
Within this scenario, it should be accentuated that to remain at the forefront of the transhipment business Malta Freeport Terminals is presently pursuing other development programmes which are expected to increase the annual capacity of the Port to 4.2 million TEUs from the present 3.5 million TEUs.