According to Romeo Salvador, TICT general manager, the German shipping line has transferred most of its liner services to Tartous due to cargo congestion in Lattakia.
With the shift to Tartous, Hamburg S'd's weekly North Europe-Mediterranean direct service now plies the ports of Felixstowe, Hamburg, Antwerp, Valencia, Alexandria, Beirut, Tartous, Mersin, Izmir and Salerno. On the other hand, the fortnightly Inner Mediterranean service plies Salerno, Vado Ligure, Leghoen, Mersin, Tartous, Beirut and Alexandria.
Meanwhile, Hamburg S'd vessels calling at Tartous have increased from one containership to five containerships per month. These are the 869-TEU capacity Eemsdijk, 917-TEU Beluga Movery, 2,524-TEU Cap Palmas, 2,478-TEU Alianca Gavea, and 2,442-TEU Cap Ortegal. Cap Ortegal had its maiden call early this week.
'We are glad that Hamburg S'd has chosen Tartous as their alternate for Lattakia. Hamburg came in at the right time as we have been improving our container handling services by upgrading our equipment and facilities. TICT is ready to serve these larger vessels,' Salvador adds.
Recently, TICT received from Tartous Port General Company and installed two brand new quay cranes (QC) manufactured by Konecranes of Finland. The QCs are the first of their kind in Tartous, and are expected to be operational by mid November.
Hamburg S'd, one of two international liners serving Syrian-North European trade, has been a key client of TICT since the latter took over container handling operations at Tartous in October 2007. Currently, the German liner holds around 14 percent of the container market share in the whole of Syria.
TICT is a subsidiary of Philippine-based International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), a leading port management company involved in the operations and development of 19 marine terminals and port projects in 13 countries worldwide. For over 20 years, ICTSI has been the private sector partner of choice for world-class trade facilitation in the economies it serves.
