The initial offering from eco-conscious French micro carrier Neoline - the Europe and North America (ENA) service - is commencing today. The first string from this partnership, which boasts investment from CMA CGM, will directly connect the USA (Baltimore), Canada (Halifax), Newfoundland (St. Pierre & Miquelon), and Ireland (Cork) with French port Saint Nazaire (aka Nantes / Montoir). The service will kick off with calls to Baltimore first, but we will see an improved service version begin pulling in the other calls starting on the 10th of November.
The inaugural voyage of their one-of-a-kind sailing vessel, NEOLINER ORIGIN, is currently scheduled for arrival in Baltimore on the 29th of October. The 136-meter-long wind powered RoRo vessel is adapted to general cargo and outfitted to receive up to 265 TEU’s loaded via trailers.
The service will join a selection of 11 other offerings that directly connect the US to France, and be 1 of just 5 strings with transit times of 13 days or less. France to US connections are diversely represented by trade; complex strings like Premier Alliance’s MD2 pendulum, or the MD4 round-the-world, provide relatively long 17+ days of proforma transit time from Marseille to the US East Coast. On the shorter end of that spectrum, CMA CGM’s connections include the classic transatlantic Liberty, as well as their round-the-world Oceania service, which both offer two of the shortest transits of 9 days. The shortest advertised transit time belongs to MSC’s Ecuador-NWC-USA, which connects Le Havre to Boston in 8 days.
Service port coverage & transit times: USA - FR
Neoline’s ENA is most comparable to CMA CGM's Liberty or Unity Bridge service in terms of a simpler structure and low call counts of 8 calls or less. While its single slot means that the service will currently operate at a low 26-day frequency, it could present some distinct advantages if it is expanded into a more robust offering. In addition to a 6-call rotation which can help maintain consistent reliability, it will be the shortest French connection to Baltimore at just 13 days, and the only connection between North America and Nantes.
eeSea Signals
- All Current + Upcoming Neoline Services
- Port Pair Options + Schedule Reliability Between USA - France
- Trade Capacity Index + Schedule Reliability Evolution for Nantes FR - Tableau Permission Required
- Note that the MD2 pendulum began dropping North American calls in early September and will revert to an Asia-Europe string by the start of December.