Antwerp Port Authority has revealed that, from 1 February this year, CMA CGM ships in the NEFWI service will call directly at the port of Antwerp.
This North Europe-France-West Indies line links northern Europe with Guadeloupe and Martinique for European fruit imports, including Univeg bananas, the port's Radar newsletter reported.
The CMA CGM vessel Pointe des Colibris called at the Belgian New Fruit Wharf (BNFW) terminal in Antwerp on 1 February carrying among other things bananas from Suriname, which will be distributed via the port of Antwerp to the local market and to surrounding countries.
The owner of the bananas is FAI, fruit partner of Greenyard, the world market leader in fresh and prepared vegetables and fruit, based in Sint-Katelijne-Waver (Belgium).
For carrying the bananas Greenyard has signed a new contract with the CMA CGM shipping company, with one of the crucial factors being the direct call at the BNFW fruit terminal in Antwerp.
A direct call like this reduces the throughput time in the logistics chain, which for perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables is naturally very important. The arrival of CMA CGM represents the third container reefer carrier for BNFW, after Maersk and Hamburg Süd, both of which have opted for a direct service to Antwerp during the past two years or less.
Antwerp Port Authority is particularly pleased with this direct service: “The competition with neighbouring ports is very hard, especially in the fruit segment,” explains port alderman Marc Van Peel. “In these circumstances if we manage to win additional freight for Antwerp it’s a very big deal that underlines the strengths that we have to offer, namely speed, efficiency, good hinterland connections and the availability of return cargo.”
CMA CGM has modified the rotation of the weekly container service so that the ships no longer call at Zeebrugge and Rotterdam, to the benefit of Antwerp, where the fruit will be handled by BNFW.
The shipments that previously went via Zeebrugge were intended in any case for further distribution to Antwerp by barge. The elimination of Rotterdam as a port of call now makes Antwerp an attractive alternative.
The port of Antwerp has experienced particularly strong growth in perishable goods in the past few years.
In 2016 alone a reefer volume of 9.02m tonnes was handled. Expressed in TEU, this represents an increase of 6.1 per cent over the previous year. Until just a few years ago, fruit such as bananas was carried as bulk freight, but the growth in containerisation means that bananas are increasingly shipped in refrigerated containers.
