Malta Freeport has again secured new business for its Container Terminals this year. Indeed, two new services, namely Mediterranean Gulf Express Service (MGX Service) and Mediterranean Line Service will be calling at Malta Freeport Terminals as from this month. They will be joining the two other services, which commenced their weekly calls at the Freeport last month, namely Amerigo and Epic 4.
The additional services will not only strengthen business opportunities available for local entrepreneurs in the United States, but for the first time ever, the Freeport will be offering connections to West African ports.
The MGX Service started calling at Malta Freeport Terminals last week. Following the acquisition of CP Ships by Hapag-Lloyd, a process of rationalisation has been taken up on services and the MGX Service is a result of this process. The first vessel to call at the Freeport was CP Challenger, which berthed at the North Quay of Terminal One discharging and loading over 640 containers.
Weekly departures will be offered with six ships of a 3,000 TEU capacity. The port rotation is Malta Freeport, Gioia Tauro, Livorno, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Miami, Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, New Orleans, San Juan and back to Malta Freeport.
The Mediterranean Line Service will be operated by Delmas, which was acquired last year by CMA CGM, the third largest shipping line in the world. This 12-day service, which will be operated with three containerships, will call first at Malta Freeport on 30 April, providing network links between the Mediterranean and West Africa. The port rotation will be Malta Freeport, Naples, Genoa, Marseilles, Barcelona, Valencia, Dakar, Abidjan, Tema, Lagos, Abidjan and back to Malta Freeport.
The brisk operational activity at the Freeport is complemented by various development projects being carried out by the Port aimed at expanding its capacity. Commissioning of the four new ZPMC super post-Panamax Quayside Cranes capable of handling containerships stacking 24 containers across the vessel has started in Shanghai. On 24 April, these cranes were loaded in Shanghai onto a dedicated barge and are expected to arrive in Malta in July where one of these cranes will be discharged on Terminal Two and the other three on Terminal One.
As part of this heavy investment programme, 10 RTGs were also purchased from KCI Konecranes with the option of another six. Commissioning and handing over of the 10 RTGs are progressing well and 6 RTGs have already been handed over while the others will be handed over by the end of this month.
Malta Freeport is confident that these developments will render its service more competitive and strengthen its standing in the region. This widens the opportunities for the company to secure additional business to the Port.