The container vessel MV Ever Utile called at Malta Freeport for the first time following the decision of Evergreen Marine Corporation to include the schedule of two mainline services.

Evergreen Corporation, the fifth largest container carrier worldwide, operates 190 container vessels which dispose of 850,000 TEUs in terms of capacity. At the beginning of 2016, Evergreen, localally represented by MBL Shipping Agency, reached agreement with other carriers to introduce its own vessels on the Phoenix service, which covers the Far East, Mediterranean, Adriatic and back to the Far East.

Malta Freeport Terminals is the Mediterranean hub for this service, which calls Malta on a weekly basis and which opens up new opportunities for imports to Malta from Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Chiwan and Port Kelang.

Through this service, Evergreen will also serve Maltese imports originating from the Adriatic ports of Rijeka, Koper, Trieste and Venice. The fact that these ports are served by mainline vessels will give them a transit time to Malta of two days and, even more important, a fixed day of call.

Evergreen is also expanding its coverage for Maltese trade by offering weekly direct services from the other Italian ports of Genoa and La Spezia, as well as Spanish ports of Barcelona and Valencia. Other services provided by Evergreen are those operating from North Europe covering the UK, Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.

This new addition to Malta Freeport enhances the pole position that Malta holds as a transshipment hub within the Mediterranean and opens up new opportunities for Maltese imports and exports.

To mark Ever Utile’s first call to Malta, MBL Shipping Agency presented a memento to the Master of the vessel, Capt. Wang Jiann, as well as to the chief executive of Malta Freeport, Alex Montebello.