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MACANDREWS’ SERVICES TO PORTUGAL DOUBLED
13rd november 2015

THE PORT OF DUNKIRK STRENGTHENS ITS POSITION IN SHORTSEA SHIPPING

After the successful launch in April 2013 of the Butterfly service linking Dunkirk with the ports of Portugal, the shortsea shipping company MacAndrews, a subsidiary of the CMA CGM group, decided to double its service frequency. This means that since the beginning of November 2015 the company has offered regular departures from almost all the ports in Portugal and from Cartagena and Algeciras in Spain. Not only does the doubling of this service meet an ever-growing demand from clients at both import and export, but it adds to the grid of shortsea lines from the port of Dunkirk. It is also a response to the ever-stronger determination of logistics chain operators to provide virtuous transport, falling within the scope of the forthcoming COP21 conference.

Stéphane Raison, CEO of Dunkerque-Port, welcomes the reinforcement of this service: «This announcement is fully in line with the 2014-2018 Strategic Plan which aims to integrate the port of Dunkirk in the dynamic of international trade, beyond its immediate hinterland, as a maritime redistribution port for shortsea shipping. I am grateful to the CMA CGM group and its subsidiary MacAndrews for their longstanding confidence in the efficient and ongoing development of these transport links.» 

MacAndrews’ CEO Geoffrey Smith comments: «Doubling the frequency will reinforce MacAndrews’ position and support its strategy to offer modal transfer for ambient, chilled and frozen goods. In competition with road transport, multimodal transport offers many advantages such as cost, reliability and environmental protection (lower energy consumption, reduced emissions, no traffic jams). In just a few years the port of Dunkirk has become an important modal link in our Europe-wide network.»

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