PORT OF KINGSTON WELCOMES NEW SHIPPING SERVICES

Jamaica recently welcomed two new shipping services to the Port of Kingston, the Panama Direct Line and the Mediterranean Caribbean, which both had their inaugural call last month.

Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) Deputy CEO, Thomas Vernier and Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) President, Professor Gordon Shirley, made a presentation on December 9, 2019 to Captain Kirill Vereschchak of the Seatrade Blue, one of the vessels on the ‘Round the World’ Panama Direct Line. Both the Panama Direct Line and the Mediterranean Caribbean services are jointly operated by CMA CGM and Marfret.

The Panama Direct Line – also known as North Atlantic South Pacific – is a multi-trade service fully integrating 15 strategic markets to the CMA CGM global network, allowing for fast connections to and from Europe, North America, Caribbean, French Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand. The line features 13 vessels making 17 ports of call over a period of 91 days, with weekly visits to the Port of Kingston.

The Mediterranean Caribbean service offers best port connectivity from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, US Golf, Mexico, Central & South America and Europe with optimized connections in Kingston to cover Caribbean & Central America. The service features eight vessels, with a capacity of 6500/7000 TEUs, making 17 ports of call over a period of 57 days, with weekly visits to the Port of Kingston.

With Jamaica’s optimal geographical location and KFTL situated at one of the world’s largest natural harbours, the company stands ready to provide excellent service to the new lines. “We are pleased to offer our standard of service to these new lines which will give our customers more flexibility and space reliability, as well as vast transhipment opportunities using the CMA CGM worldwide network,” noted Vernier.

CMA CGM is the fourth leading shipping line in the world, with a network of 200 shipping routes between 420 ports in 150 different countries. The new services are yet another way the company is showing its commitment to the Port of Kingston and Jamaica’s shipping industry, while reinforcing its reliability and competitiveness as well as meeting its customers’ needs in this region.