Mediterranean Shipping Company - MSC - yesterday called at the Freeport with one of its vessels operating on the Asia/Med-Dragon Express service.

The MSC Laura berthed at the south quay of the Freeport's Terminal 2 which is equipped to operate the largest vessels afloat.

This containership forms part of the fleet of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the second largest shipping line in the world, operating in excess of 255 container vessels.

MSC Laura discharged over 2,600 containers at Malta Freeport. Another three vessels are scheduled to call at the Freeport over the coming week to load the cargo which has been discharged by MSC Laura and thus complete the transhipment operation.

A Freeport spokesman said a remarkable productivity level of container movements per hour was registered on the vessel. "This was not an exception for the Freeport since privatisation and new labour agreements allowing for greater flexibility have been concluded six months ago. The Freeport has been experiencing a steady and consistent increase in production levels. A record-breaking production level of 30.4 container moves per crane per hour was achieved last month on the CSCL Asia, being the largest vessel afloat with a carrying capacity of 8,500 TEUs. These production results augur well for the Freeport to gear up with its Mediterranean counterparts who have already had such results over the past years," the spokesman said.

Despite increasing competition for the Freeport, with the opening of a new transhipment facility at East Port Said in Egypt, Freeport sources confirmed that an increasing amount of mega carriers are showing a keen interest to start using the Freeport's facilities for their operations.