Short Sea Container Freight Specialists Announce Upgrades and Alliance

FRANCE – GERMANY – SPAIN – UK – News concerning a couple of freight and logistics companies under the CMA CGM banner with subsidiaries OPDR of Hamburg and Manchester based MacAndrews & Company due to take delivery of 4,000 new 40 foot pallet wide high cube containers. With the advantage of offering floor space for up to 5 more europallets these boxes will appeal to customers looking to stow up to 30 pallets of cargo, whilst the extra 30 centimetres in height provides even more useable capacity. The two companies are sourcing the containers from their French parent group.

OPDR, acquired by CMA CGM in 2014 from the Bernhard Schulte Group, specialises in the supply of larger than standard containers, up to 45’ high cube boxes capable of loading 33 europallets and says the new units allow precise and unitary arrangement of pallets whilst benefitting from multiple anchor points to secure stowed goods. MacAndrews offers similar services and specialises in the Spanish export market as the largest single user of the Spanish Rail Network, RENFE and offers 3 sailings per week from Bilbao for UK customers, mainly for fresh and frozen produce.

Another company based in Spain, Boluda Lines, part of the Boluda Corporacion Maritima, is also an expert in the short sea field which has also now formed an alliance with OPDR. Boluda can trace its history back to 1837 and it has agreed with OPDR to work together on the Canary Islands routes offering two sailings per week to link the three major ports of Tilbury, Rotterdam and Hamburg with Lanzarote in only eight, nine and ten days, respectively, the same transit times apply for La Palma, a weekly port call.

Also weekly is the call at Fuerteventura linking with Tilbury, Rotterdam and Hamburg in nine, ten and eleven days, respectively. OPDR says the strategic alliance will enhance its short sea shipping and door to door logistics services whilst Boluda added two new container ships to its Canary Islands services just last month.

Photo: The 2014 built Nord Cheetah, a 1,400 TEU container vessel is currently part of the Boluda fleet.