A new direct service to St. Petersburg

     

    By the end of August, CMA CGM will extend its Europe-Caribbean Service (ECS) to St. Petersburg and

    Tallinn. Consequently, the number of ships deployed will increase from six to

    eight units of around 2,000 TEU each. The revised route will be: Rotterdam, Hamburg, St Petersburg,

    Tallinn, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Le Havre, Kingston, Cartagena, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Puerto

    Cortes, Puerto Limon, Kingston and back to Rotterdam. 

    With its ECS initiative, CMA CGM enters into direct competition to Maersk Line’s Caribbean Express

    (CRX), which is currently the only other direct full container link between Central America and Russia’s

    main banana import port. Last June, MSC put a stop to its Central America-North Europe and direct Baltic

    link, which it operated for about a year. Since early 2009, the Danish carrier has also called at St. Petersburg

    with its predominantly Ecuador-based Ecubex, which depending on the season, also includes Central

    American ports en-route. However, the French line’s direct deepsea box call at Tallinn (Estonia) is an absolute

    novelty. As the ships it currently uses are not (more expensive) ice-class, it remains to be seen

    whether it will become a year-round operation.