NYK improves Eastern Mediterranean service

NYK has provided further information on how it intends to fill the extra vessel capacity provided by expansion of the Grand Alliance? EUM service between Asia and the Mediterranean.

Starting on Friday July 20, 2007, a new weekly feeder service is to be launched from the hub port of Damietta, calling at Beirut on Saturdays, Lattakia on Sundays/Mondays and Mersin on Mondays/Tuesdays.

The service is synchronized to link up with the EUM? weekly calls in Damietta, whose eight vessels are currently being upgraded from 4,000 TEU / 4,500 TEU capacities to 6,000 TEU / 6,500 TEU capacities. This process should be completed by the end of June. Earlier this week, NYK announced that the upgraded EUM service is also to be used as a mother service for transshipment cargoes to the North African ports of Tunis, Port of Rades and Casablanca. Transshipment will take place in Barcelona from July 24, 2007.

The EUM service calls at Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Klang, Damietta, Genoa, Barcelona and Fos, Damietta, Singapore, Hong Kong, and back to Busan. Expansion of the service is designed to cope with surging traffic growth from Asia into the Mediterranean, which according to the FEFC, was 24% in Q1 2007, compared to the same period in 2006. On the other hand, excluding vessel upgrades, new services that have been introduced since January 1, 2007, or have been announced, will add an extra 16% of westbound capacity. The increase compared to July 1, 2006 is 18%, according to CI? calculations.