The first of a new weekly East Mediterranean America (EMA) service arrived at the Port of Vado Ligure’s new semi-automated deep-sea terminal on 18 September.
The MV Seaspan Chiba was the first to arrive out of four of 4,500 TEU used vessels to be used in the connection. The new EMA service is set to help connect the container terminal of Vado Ligure with the main ports of North America (New York, Norfolk and Savannah).
The ship departed from the port of Iskenderun before arriving at the Vado Gateway and will call at Turkey and Piraeus before continuing its course to the ports of the American Atlantic coast.
The full port rotation for the EMA service is as follows: Iskenderum (Turkey) – Aliaga (Turkey) – Istanbul (Turkey) – Piraeus (Greece) – Vado Ligure (Italy) – La Spezia (Italy) – Algeciras (Spain) – New York (US) – Norfolk (US) – Savannah (US) – Algeciras (Spain) – Iskenderun (Turkey)
“The arrival of the EMA service is a further fundamental step in the growth path of Vado Gateway and proof of its strategic role in the Mediterranean port geography,” said CEO of Vado Gateway, Paolo Cornetto.
“The US market is a strategic market for our country and having a direct connection from Vado Ligure is of great importance for our develop plans. We are grateful to COSCO shipping lines, ONE and OOCL for the trust they have placed in us.”
The terminal at Port of Vado Ligure is the first semi-automated hub in Italy, utilising a fully automated gate and stacking yard. As a joint venture between APMT and COSCO Shipping, the 700m deep-sea berth is capable of handling the latest Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) and up to 1.1 million TEU per year.
The terminal first opened for business in February 2020, with the M/V Maersk Kota being the first ship to call there on Maersk’s weekly ME2 service. The ME2 service travels around the Mediterranean as well as through the Middle East and India.
