CMA CGM has launched a weekly service connecting Mundra Port and Sonipat, a key freight location in North India’s Haryana state, reports London’s Loadstar.
‘CMA CGM is well-positioned to serve its customers thanks to a strong presence in India over the past three decades. The dedicated service will increase capacity by an additional 90 TEU to meet the growing market demand with a direct connection to major shipping services,’ said cma CGM.
Though block trains have the advantage of priority terminal handling and are able to turn around quicker, round-trip contract arrangements allow shippers the opportunity to move freight in both directions with predictable haulage cost benefits.
‘The export connection will be followed by the import block-train from Mundra to Sonipat every Sunday (which the group has already been operating since 2021). In 2021 alone, the group in India successfully carried 8,878 TEU of imports in its two weekly block-train services between Mundra and Sonipat,’ said CMA CGM.
For CMA CGM, the rail expansion is seen as a major step to extending its reach beyond port-to-port shipping in India.
Said APM Terminals Pipavav board member Julian Bevis: ‘Since the trains that run on the DFC can take greater payloads, it provides logistics companies a solution to speed up the transport of cargo and containers through Trucks-on-Trains, also reducing time and improving vehicle productivity,’
‘Apart from this, the development of multimodal logistics parks around the DFC will increase the effectiveness of road transport.’
