A new service from CMA CGM, its American President Lines (APL) subsidiary and COSCO Shipping has begun operations linking South Asia with ports in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.

The new Indiamed service, which has called at APM Terminals (APMT)  Mumbai, expands the transhipment network through the East Mediterranean to/from Middle East destinations and the West Mediterranean to/from the Middle East and Indian Sub-Continent.

APMT Mumbai’s chief operating officer Ravi Gaitonde said that the service would expand “India’s market into key ports of the Mediterranean”.

The service rotation includes calls at Khor Fakkan, in the UAE; Karachi, Pakistan; Nhava Sheva (Mumbai), and Mundra, in India; Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Damietta, Egypt; Piraeus, Greece; Malta; Aliaga and Mersin, in Turkey and Port Said West, Egypt.

CMA CGM, currently the world’s third-largest shipping line by capacity, carried a total of 15.6m teu in 2016, boosted by the acquisition of Singapore’s Neptune Orient Line (NOL), which includes the APL brand.

Nhava Sheva, the busiest container port in India, handled a record 4.5m teu in 2016, with APMT Mumbai accounting for 1.8m teu, or 40% of the port’s total container volume.