The Port of Hamburg has for the first time received a vessel operating on CMA CGM's French-Asia Line 3 (FAL 3) service directly from the Port of Cai Mep in Vietnam, the third scheduled liner service for containers linking Hamburg with Vietnam.
The container ship CMA CGM Othello called at the Port of Hamburg on 2 December as part of the expanded service, a transit time of 22 days after leaving Cai Mep, which is located some 80km south of Ho Chi Minh City.
Using a fleet of ten container ships with slot capacities between 8,500 TEU and 9,500 TEU, the FAL 3 service links the port of Qingdao, Ningbo, Chiwan, Nansha, Yantian, Cai Mep and Port Kelang with European ports. The Europe-bound leg also includes the port of Marsaxlokk, while the ports of Beirut and Jeddah are added on the eastbound journey.
'With the introduction of direct scheduled liner services, which cut transit times by about a week, the volume of cargo shipped to and from the southeast Asian Tiger economy is expected to increase,' Hamburg Port Authority said in a statement.
