The spare capacity at the Malta Freeport could earn new operators CMA CGM considerable business given that its main rival in the Mediterranean, the Medcenter Container Terminal in Gioia Tauro, Calabria is bursting at the seams with work and has reached full capacity, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

The paper’s transport correspondent Robert Wright quoted Medcenter’s CEO Tim Halhead saying that the recent boom in container shipping has sometimes overwhelmed the Calabria centre. “We are close to our present capacity,” FT quoted, adding that while it works on expanding, the Medcenter is doing little to seek new business.

On the other hand, the Malta Freeport can offer more spare capacity than most of its rivals. Last year, in fact, out of an annual capacity of 2.4m TEU the port handled about 1.5m, FT reported. Furthermore, CMA CGM are investing to expand capacity and are introducing improved working practices.

The article also analysed Malta Freeport problems, chief of which is the fact that the port has been losing money in recent years mainly because its main customers, CMA CGM and China’s China Shipping Corporation, introduced direct services from East Asia to the Black Sea.

The Black Sea used to be served by feeder ships from Malta but, as trade grew, the route has become a viable direct route. Furthermore, Malta Freeport also lost significant trade to competition, particularly when a consortium of liners running services to India and Pakistan moved their trans-shipment business to Cagliari in Sardinia.

The article also carried comments by Malta Freeport managing director Uwe Malezki who explained that the port is competing not only with nearby transhipment centres such as Cagliari and Gioia Tauro but also with Egyptian ports near the Suez Canal such as Port Said East and Damietta. Egypt is convenient for some of Malta’s target markets in the Middle East and Black Sea.

However, quoting Neil Davidson of Drewry, FT concluded that while growth may slow down in the near future trans-shipment hubs will keep growing at the respectable rate of other container ports and significant opportunities remain for Medcenter, Malta Freeport as well as other trans-shipment hubs.