Malta Freeport Terminals on Monday announced that global shipping company MSC has chosen the facility for its new direct service connecting India and the West Mediterranean, named India-West Med Service.

The 11,700 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container MSC Ivana, the first containership to call at the Freeport on the India-West Med Service, berthed at Terminal One North Quay, and a five megamax crane formation was deployed to efficiently discharge and load more than 1,800 containers.

“We are pleased to extend our relationship with MSC through this service which continues to reinforce Malta’s status within the MSC network,” Malta Freeport Terminals CEO Alex Montebello said.

The new service offers transit times between Mundra (India) and Genoa (Italy) in 19 days, Valencia (Spain) in 23 days, and Nhava Sheva (India) to Barcelona (Spain) in 16 days.

It also connects with MSC’s broad intermodal networks across Genoa and Valencia, allowing for new opportunities for exporters across the region, while also enhancing support for automotive, apparel, and pharmaceutical industries between India and the West Mediterranean.

The new service calls at Malta Freeport, King Abdullah (Saudi Arabia), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Jebel Ali (United Arab Emirates), Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Djibouti, Gioia Tauro (Italy), Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Salerno (Italy), Gioia Tauro, and then back to Malta Freeport.

Major shipping lines currently calling at the Freeport include the Ocean Alliance, CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen, as well as MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, Marfret, and ONE.

Malta Freeport is a hub for both the international and local commercial community, with it being globally connected through 16 mainline services calling on a weekly basis, providing links to 115 ports worldwide, over 50 of which are in the Mediterranean.

In recent years, Malta Freeport Terminals has invested heavily to upgrade all areas of operation, with this ranging from developing berths, to new equipment, development of a new fuel station complying with the latest environmental standards, increasing reefer slots, and also installing the latest IT and semi-automation technology, among others.

The facility handled 2.89 million TEUs in 2022 during what proved to be a challenging year for the industry due to the aftermath of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. It stated that it will be “intensifying its focus on the further development of its facilities” aimed at strengthening its physical capability to "efficiently service container ships of the future".