New container service linking India, Middle East set to start

A new container service connecting the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East will be launched this week, a media report has said.
Evergreen Line and Dubai-based Simatech Shipping have signed a vessel-sharing agreement to jointly operate the new container service.
The weekly loop, branded the Chennai-Colombo-Gulf Service, or CCG, will employ four vessels of around 2,000 20-foot-equivalent units' capacity, with three of the ships deployed by Simatech and one by Evergreen, the Times of Oman report said quoting the Oman International Container Terminal (OICT).
According to the report, the first CCG vessel is expected to depart from Colombo on May 9 and the new service will help further push the move of subcontinental ports to Sohar.

OICT is the gateway for international trade in Oman a hub for regional transshipment traffic.
It is a joint-venture between global port investor, developer and operator Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH), the government of Oman, Steinweg of Netherlands and a number of other well-established Omani Investors.
According to the report, the port rotation for CCG will be Colombo, Sri Lanka, Vizakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam and Chennai, India, Colombo, Cochin, India, Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates, Sohar, Oman, Cochin and back to Colombo.
"In addition to providing efficient transportation services linking the major ports of southern India and Sri Lanka with the gulf, this important intra-regional service will also connect to Evergreen's global service network via its transshipment hub in Colombo," Evergreen said in a trade advisory.