MacAndrews' new service to connect Port of Dunkirk and Portugal
The famous shortsea maritime operator MacAndrews, a subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group, has chosen Dunkirk (Dunkerque) for a new service to and from Portugal, calling twice weekly as of Saturday 27 April 2013, the Dunkirk Port news release said.
The service, comprising two calls a week at the Flanders terminal, will provide a fixed day (Saturdays) export call to Lisbon in 3 days and Leixões in 5 days, and a fixed day (Sundays) import call to Dunkirk in 5 days from Lisbon and 3 days from Leixões. Service will be operated by two containerships of respective capacity 450 and 515 Teus respectively named Karin Schepers and Canopus J.
The Spanish region of Galicia will also be served efficiently via the port of Leixões.
Equipmentwise MacAndrews offers a comprehensive fleet of 20’ and 40’ high-cube and pallet-wide containers, as well as 45’ high-cube, pallet-wide, dry and reefer containers. In Dunkirk the shipping company will be represented by the CMA CGM agency.
Christine Cabau Woehrel, Chair of Dunkerque-Port’s Executive Committee, welcomes this decision and expresses her appreciation for the efforts made by the port communities of Dunkirk, Lisbon and Leixões and underlines the importance of the shortsea network which is growing at Dunkirk.
"This decision, which we highly welcome, is fully in line with the development strategy of the Port of Dunkirk as regards to the diversification of our shortsea shipping lines and adds nicely and efficiently to our shortsea network which we want to reinforce, as a complement to the major east-west and north-south routes. We thank MacAndrews for their trust in Dunkirk and confirm that they have made the right commercial choice."
Guy Adams, MacAndrews’ General Manager for Northern Europe, comments: "I expect considerable take-up of this new link which offers clients in the Nord-Pas de Calais Region and the border area of Belgium the opportunity of using alternative transport modes, which is fully in line with the Grenelle Environment Law. We are very pleased to promote this new service which allows us to widen and reinforce our offer, proposing a diversified and tailor-made range of facilities."