DP World Cochin hosts inaugural call of Malabar service

DP World welcomed the newly launched weekly Malabar Service at its state-of-the-art International Container Trans-shipment Terminal (ICTT) in Kochi. The new service will be operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and will have four vessels of 2,400 TEU capacity.

The Malabar service’s maiden vessel M.V. MSC Krittika reached DP World’s terminal in Cochin on April 6, 2023, says an official release from DP World. "The new service will provide direct and seamless connectivity between Cochin, Mundra, Karachi, Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait (with Shuwaikh Port), Qatar (with Hamad Port) and Sri Lanka (Colombo). This will create a faster, stable, and reliable service for the traders across the India-Middle East corridor and leverage the strong partnerships between the two regions for boosting economic growth."

Praveen Joseph, CEO, DP World Cochin says: “We are committed to expanding trade routes through more direct services and are focused on continuously improving our operations to serve our customers better. The newly launched Malabar service by our valued customer MSC will play an integral role in strengthening the bilateral trade between India and the Middle East countries. In addition, this service will enable Indian exporters to have a deeper and wider access to the markets in the Middle East region.”

The Malabar service will be the third weekly service sailing for the Middle East region from DP World Cochin. The port terminal is capable of handling post panamax ships, and in February 2023, the 605-metre-long terminal reached a milestone of successfully handling six million TEUs since its inception in 2011, the release added.