Evergreen Line and Simatech Shipping will launch a new container service connecting the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East according to the Oman International Container Terminal (OICT). The weekly loop, branded the Chennai-Colombo-Gulf Service, or CCG, will employ four vessels of around 2,000 20-foot-equivalent units’ capacity. OICT is the gateway for international trade in Oman a hub for regional transshipment traffic. It is a joint-venture between global port investor, developer and operator Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH), the government of the Sultanate of Oman, Steinweg of Netherlands and a number of other Omani Investors. The port rotation for CCG will be Colombo, Sri Lanka; Vizakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam and Chennai, India; Colombo; Cochin, India; Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates; Sohar, Oman; Cochin and back to Colombo. The first CCG vessel is expected to depart from Colombo on May 9. The new service will help further push the move of subcontinental ports to Sohar. “In addition to providing efficient transportation services linking the major ports of southern India and Sri Lanka with the gulf, this important intra-regional service will also connect to Evergreen’s global service network via its transshipment hub in Colombo,” Evergreen said.