Container Shipping Line Signs New Agency and Environmental Agreement

NORWAY – These days signing a ships agency agreement involves more than the mundane matters of freight and logistics as illustrated by the new cooperative deal worked out by GAC and the Scandinavian arm of the world’s third largest container shipping company CMA CGM. The agreement between the two covers agency, husbandry and NOx reporting at the Port of Oslo.

CMA CGM vessels call at the Norwegian port once every week on average and its weekly links join the Scandinavian ports of Oslo, Moss, Brevik and Gothenburg with the CMA CGM hub in Rotterdam, and beyond to its global network. NOx reporting is of course now mandatory and joins the usual requirements a shipping line expects from its agents. The first port call under the new deal took place on 9 February when the feeder vessel MV Pengalia which called at Sjursøya Container Terminal to discharge and load cargo. Stig Pedersen, GAC Norway’s Manager for Dry Cargo & Projects at Oslo commented:

“The signing of this contract with CMA CGM Scandinavia represents an important element in our strategy to establish GAC Norway as the provider of choice for agency and husbandry services in the Oslofjord.”

In 2015 the CMA CGM Group transported an estimated volume of 13 million TEUs and Sara Henriksson, head of Vessel Operations at CMA CGM Logistics in Gothenburg observed:

“CMA CGM has enjoyed a long-term relationship with GAC for many years, perhaps most notably in Saudi Arabia where they provided liner agency services and more recently in Dubai where we used GAC EnvironHull’s eco-friendly HullWiper hull cleaning services. As a global operation with a fleet of 470 vessels and 170 lines serving 400 ports, it’s essential that CMA CGM’s ship agency services provider has the reach and network to fit the bill.”

Photo: The Pengalia moored up in Oslo.