Maersk Line has announced this week that it is adding a new regular weekly call at Turbo in Colombia to its Expreso service, a move that could create greater opportunities for Colombian exporters to enter new markets and expand their businesses.
The port at Turbo is the largest banana exporting port in Colombia and a major gateway to the rest of the world for producers in the northwest of the country, but has previously had no regular calls from major container carriers.
With the introduction of the new Maersk Line service, exporters will no longer have to rely on existing banana boats calling at Turbo or other ports that require costly road haulage, the group said in a statement.
By adding Turbo to its Expreso service, the Danish shipping group is offering a number of benefits to Colombian banana exporters, including a direct weekly service into the US Gulf Coast, a fast weekly connection to Europe via Manzanillo, and a weekly connection to the US west coast.
'The bananas shipped from Turbo will be loaded into state-of-the-art Maersk Line reefer containers and stored at 12.5oC during transport, ensuring that they retain flavour and freshness while at sea,' the group said.
Maersk Line noted that, in addition to increasing exports to both the US and Europe, the service could open doors to imports into Colombia.
The new service begins on Friday 11 December.
