Shipping lines begin service from Northern Europe to Port of Charleston

The arrival of CMA-CGM Jefferson at the South Carolina State Ports Authority’s North Charleston terminal this morning marked the beginning of a new weekly Northern Europe service that will translate into new business for the port.

French carrier CMA-CGM and China Shipping Container Lines launched the new service in mid-March from Le Havre, France.

The new service is estimated to bring 17,000 additional container lifts and 52 ship calls annually to the port. It will call the North Charleston Terminal.

“This is great new business for the Charleston waterfront,” said SPA president and CEO Bernard S. Groseclose Jr. “We certainly look forward to expanding our relationship with CMA-CGM and China Shipping.”

The lines have deployed four vessels of 2,600-TEU capacity on a rotation of Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Liverpool, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk and Charleston. A TEU is the equivalent of a 20-foot long cargo container.

The service will also allow connections with other CMA-CGM services throughout the Baltic states, Russia, Poland and Scandinavia, and that will likely prove especially significant to both South Carolina’s importers and exporters, said Mark Condon, executive director of the South Carolina World Trade Center.

“We visited that region on the way back from a trade mission to Russia last year, and the economies of the former satellite nations of the old Soviet Union are certainly emerging and vibrant,” he said.

“On the one hand, that region’s manufacturing sector is really gearing up, so there’s an enhanced opportunity for people inclined to import parts and other goods from the European Union. At the same time, and really for the first time in some cases, people over there have the income to purchase goods. So that’s welcome news for our exporters.”

Condon also said because the Baltic states have joined the European Union, it’s relatively easy to establish trade relationships in the region.

More than 40 ocean carriers currently operate services between Northern Europe and Charleston, and the market comprises 33% of the port’s total volume. Among all ports from Miami to Virginia, Charleston holds a 47% market share in the trade.