Ignazio Messina launches North Europe service

Marking another milestone in its service expansion plans, on December 21 Genoabased Ignazio Messina will launch a new fortnightly liner service providing opportunities to and from North Europe and Portugal for all its customers. The new direct service will operate on the West Africa, Setubal (Portugal), Antwerp (Belgium), Genoa route, with Genoa providing transhipment options for all other services. It will cater for containers and ro-ro units with particular focus on project cargo. The ro-ro sister-ships Jolly Bianco, Jolly Marrone and Jolly Rosso will be deployed on the service. All are owned vessels sailing under the Italian flag from West Africa. “The new rotation for export cargo from West Africa to Europe will provide a highly competitive service – direct and with a very fast transit time,” Johannesburg-based Captain Tonino D’Esposito told FTW. “The entire Mediterranean area, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Iran, East-South Africa and Moçambique will be served through the Genoa hub, where Messina Group controls the specialised terminal. West Africa ports will be connected directly,” he added. The first sailing will be undertaken by the Jolly Marrone scheduled to sail from Antwerp on December 21 and from Setubal on December 26. The Company is represented in Antwerp by Acsa (Conti Group) and in Portugal by Navex (ETE Group). CAPTION Now on the SA service is Ignazio Messina’s Jolly Quarzo, the fourth of eight new sister ships specially designed for the low draught ports of Africa.