Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM add new India-US service via Jeddah

Mawani has added the Indamex 2 shipping service, a route jointly operated by Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM, to Jeddah Islamic Port.

“The trade link is key to the Kingdom’s ambitions in positioning Jeddah as a major east-west hub and strengthening its global maritime connectivity in line with the goals of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy (NTLS),” Mawani said.

“The Kingdom’s busiest port will gain access to leading trade gateways across the Indian Subcontinent and North America, including Port Qasim in Pakistan, Mundra and Jawaharlal Nehru in India, and Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah in the US.”

The first sailing on the new service left the Red Sea port on the January 11 as the Liberia-flagged Swansea, a vessel that has a carrying capacity of 6,966 teu. According to vesselfinder.com, the ship was due to reach Norfolk on January 29.

According to information on the websites of Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM, the earlier Indamex 1 service did not include Jeddah on westbound legs, only stopping at the Saudi port on the ‘return’ journey.

Last year, Mawani said Saudi ports added nine shipping services to boost the Kingdom’s ranking in global logistics indices and improve the sector’s throughput performance.

Analysts say that Saudi port development, which under the Vision 2030 development plan has set a target to quadruple port throughput by that year, will focus on its West coast ports, as these are ideally situated to benefit from global marine traffic from the Far East to Europe and beyond, which as a matter of preference utilises the Colombo-Suez Canal route to minimise sailing timings.

Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.