CMA CGM Group will be launching, on March 12, 2009, an optimized version of its Amerigo Express service linking the Mediterranean and the US East Coast.

 The new enhanced service will be operated in partnership with Maersk Line in replacement of the current Amerigo Express service partnering CMA CGM and Evergreen.

 It will provide enlarged port coverage in West Mediterranean with the introduction of 2 new calls in Algeciras and Gioia Tauro - in addition to the historic calls in Malta, Livorno, Genoa and Fos - offering new feeder connections with Italy, Spain and Portugal.

 New Amerigo Express will operate with 5 state-of-the-art vessels with capacity of 3500 TEU, including the CMA CGM AMBER, a latest generation containership recently delivered by Hanjin ship yard.

 Port rotation will be Algeciras, Malta, Gioia Tauro, Livorno, Genoa, Fos, Algeciras, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Miami and return to Algeciras.

 “This new, optimized version of the Amerigo Express service offers strengthened port coverage on Mediterranean to US trade, using more efficient tonnage. It provides CMA CGM with operating synergies particularly adapted to the current economic context,” explains Jean Philippe THENOZ, CMA CGM Group Vice President North America Lines.

 The new service will leave Malta on March, 12, 2009, in the continuity of the current service.