A NEW shipping service is set to start calling at the DP World London Gateway logistics park and port in the new year.

The CMA CGM'S European-Caribbean service will begin to stop at the huge port in Stanford-le-Hope in 2017.

The ships are set to stop off in the UK for the first time following improvements to the line’s North Europe to Central America service route.

This particular service will be calling in the UK for the first time on Friday, January 6.

Dedicated to reefer or refrigerated transport, the service will provide one of the shortest transit times on the market between Central America and North Europe.

It also enables the UK to connect with the whole of the Caribbean region through CMA CGM’s strategic hub in Kingston, Jamaica.

The new route will be: Puerto Limon in Costa Rica, Kingston in Jamaica, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, DP World London Gateway, Hamburg in Germany, Antwerp in Belgium, Le Havre in France, Caucedo in the Dominican Republic, Kingston in Jamaica, Santo Tomas de Castilla in Guatemala, Puerto Cortes in Honduras and Puerto Limon.

Offered in cooperation with Hapag–Lloyd, a Germany transport company, the service will be run by five 2300 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity, state-of-the-art CMA CGM vessels and one Hapag–Lloyd vessel.

CMA CGM already utilises DP World London Gateway on a number of services.

The line’s NEMO service, linking Oceania, islands in the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, has been calling at the port.

The EUROSAL service – connecting the west coast of South America and Northern Europe – will be upgraded to significantly larger, high reefer capacity vessels of almost 10,000 TEUS.

Rob Waterman, CEO, CMA CGM UK, said: “We’re extremely pleased to be able to offer our customers an enhanced service offering between Central America and North Europe.

“These improvements will lead to shorter transit times and provide greater choice to shippers moving goods between Central America & the Caribbean to the UK.

“DP World London Gateway is exceptionally well equipped to handle reefer containers and we look forward to building on our good relationship with the Port to further enhance this service loop for our customers.”

James Leeson, Head of Port Commercial, DP World London Gateway, said: “This is a great win, not just for DP World London Gateway, but for the UK, too.

“The start of the improved ECS weekly service will broaden the Port’s trade route offering and also provide shippers with a highly competitive transit option between the UK and important Central America markets.

“Vessels calling here receive a superior temperature controlled container service.

The Port has almost 1700 reefer plugs, a cassette and translifter system that enables containers to be moved

around the terminal more efficiently and world-class inspection facilities that contribute to class leading release and dwell times.

“We look forward to receiving the first call by a vessel on the ECS service in the same week that the enhanced CMA CGM NEMO service begins calling at DP World London Gateway Port.

“With our great team, state-of-the-art technology – which is making UK trade more reliable and more efficient – and excellent turnaround times, we’re extremely well placed to offer CMA CGM and its customers using these service rotations the very best service.”