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Neptune Lines react to market forces with new Middle East ro-ro service

Neptune Lines react to market forces with new Middle East ro-ro service
Neptune Lines’ new Middle East short sea vehicle transportation service is being given wiggle room to reach the volume peaks initially anticipated.

When the Greek ro-ro specialist launched the service in July, detailed weekly schedules alternating from the UAE ports of Jebel Ali (Dubai) and Khalifa (Abu Dhabi) were announced.

However those loops - Jebel Ali, Bandar Abbas (Iran) or Sohar (Oman/alternating), Umm Qasr (Iraq), Kuwait and Khalifa Port (Abu Dhabi), followed by a departure from Khalifa calling at Doha (Qatar), Bahrain, Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and returning to Jebel Ali, appear to have been downgraded.

In a statement released at the service’s official inauguration in Dubai late last month, Neptune Lines said the service would link the two UAE hubs with Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran but offered no further detail of the “upgraded information”.

Requests from Seatrade Maritime News for service details have been politely returned with a promise of more “mature” market insight once a service at the “very early stages of its development” is bedded in.

There is no concrete details of the Middle East service, supported by NMT Shipping and its commercial agents in the region, on Neptune Lines’ or NTM Shipping’s websites. However, Neptune Line’s inauguration media statement did slate potential “alternative routes” in the Middle East “upon demand and subject to availability” to be operated on an “an inducement basis”.

“We are committed to contributing to this region our pioneering expertise and professionalism alongside our pledge for excellent quality shipping services,” Neptune president and ceo Melina Travlos said at the September 27 inauguration.

“We are creating a sea bridge dedicated to the automotive trade, servicing the Emirati ports as well as the ports of Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran, aiming to boost and facilitate the trading of vehicles overall, offering permanent solutions for reliable, on time deliveries.”

The Malta-flagged, 3893 dwt vehicle carrier Neptune Ploes, built in 1983, has been deployed on the Middle East service and was steaming between from Umm Qasr towards Jebel Ali at the time of print.

Established in 1975, Neptune Lines operates a modern fleet of Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) vessels in more than 30 ports in 20 countries across the Mediterranean and Black Seas and the Middle East as of July.