CMA CGM has launched Iberimar, a weekly maritime service between Spain, Portugal, and Morocco that combines two shuttle-type lines previously operated separately by the French shipping company, the Agapome and the Mosth1, into a single rotation. The new line, which has already begun operating, makes a stop in Algeciras, one of the seven ports included in its route.
The rotation weekly covers Tangier Med, Algeciras, Vigo, Leixões, Lisbon, Casablanca, and Agadir, in a complete cycle of 21 days covered by three ships, allowing a weekly stop at each port along the route. According to the transit times published by the shipping company, the journey between Tangier Med and Algeciras is completed in one day, and the ship reaches Vigo, the northernmost point of the rotation, on the fifth day after departing from the Moroccan port.
CMA CGM has allocated three container ships to the line. The Songa Panther (IMO 9947732), with a nominal capacity of 1,781 TEUs, flagged in Liberia and built in 2023; the Hansa Rotenburg, with 1,740 TEUs, flagged in Portugal and built in 2009; and the Contship Box, with 1,496 TEUs, also flagged in Liberia and built in 2009. The capacity figures for the three ships correspond to the range between 1,500 and 1,800 TEUs that the maritime intelligence firm Alphaliner attributes to the new line. All three have plugs for refrigerated containers —368 for the Contship Box, 300 for the Hansa Rotenburg, and 258 for the Songa Panther—, operating at service speeds of 20, 17, and 18 knots, respectively, and have deadweights of 21,200, 23,312, and 24,000 tons; of the three, only the Hansa Rotenburg has its own cranes.
In Algeciras, the stop is made at the Total Terminal Intl Algeciras (TTI Algeciras), with CMA CGM Ibérica S.A.U. as the shipping agent; in Tangier Med, at Eurogate Terminal Tangier, with CMA CGM Maroc as the agent, and in Vigo, at Terminales Marítimas de Vigo, again represented by CMA CGM Ibérica.
The launch of Iberimar adds to the expansion of regular maritime connections between Spain and the African continent recorded in recent weeks. According to data from Alphaliner, shipowners Akkon Lines, CMA CGM, and MSC have introduced new services, added stops, or incorporated larger vessels in rotations connecting Algeciras, Castellón, Valencia, Vigo, and Las Palmas with ports in northern and western Africa.
MSC, for its part, has restructured its rotation between Spain, Mauritania, and Senegal, renamed as West Med to/from Senegal and South Maroc. The shipping company eliminates the stop in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, and incorporates two new stops, in Agadir and Fos, near Marseille (France). The line now calls at Las Palmas, Dakar (Senegal), Agadir, Valencia, Sète, and Fos, with the Canary port serving as a link for transshipment to Nouakchott. According to Alphaliner, MSC has also replaced the three vessels that operated the service with others of greater capacity, ranging from 1,700 to 2,100 TEUs.
Akkon Lines, a Turkish shipping company, has added a fourth vessel to its WMS service, which connects Spain, Turkey, and North Africa: the Atria, a container ship of 966 TEUs recently chartered by the company. According to Alphaliner, the inclusion of the vessel improves the transit times of the line, reducing them from ten to nine days. The service calls at Ambarli (Istanbul), Bizerte (Tunisia), Casablanca, Valencia, Castellón, Genoa, Salerno, Misurata, and Tripoli (Libya), as well as Nemrut Bay and Gemlik, also in Turkey, with a fleet of vessels ranging from 825 to 966 TEUs and a full cycle of 36 days.
These movements add to those already made by several feeder shipping companies in June, then limited to the Mediterranean edge of the African continent.
