French container shipping giant CMA CGM christened the world's largest Maltese-flagged vessel, the 11,400TEU 'CMA CGM Pegasus', at Malta Freeport Terminal, at the Port of Marsaxlokk in Malta.
This vessel is the largest containership ever to sail under the Maltese flag, a European flag, which is one of the safest in the world (according to the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control criteria).
The 'CMA CGM Pegasus' is the seventh vessel of the group to be registered under the Maltese flag.
Malta is situated in a strategic location on the shortest possible route between the Suez Canal and the Gibraltar Straits, at the crossroads of some of the world's shipping routes serving Asia, the Middle East, the Aegean, Adriatic and Black seas along with the European continent, making Malta Freeport Terminals (MFTL) a major container transhipment centre in the west Mediterranean.
With ten ocean and fifteen feeder services, up to 35 CMA CGM vessels call at Malta every week. MFTL is the main hub for the CMA CGM Group in the region.
CMA CGM Group has been operating MFTL – a 100 percent subsidiary – since October 2004 and has been granted an extension of its concession by the Maltese Authorities to 65 years in 2008.
It marked the beginning of an ambitious programme of expansion and modernisation of the port's infrastructure aiming at improving the competitiveness of MFTL even further and answering the growing demand of its customers.
This programme includes an increase of the water depth of Terminal Two North Quay and South Quay, Terminal One North Quay and the fairway from 15.5 to 17 metres, and the increase of yard space by 133,000 square-metres.
The main objective of this programme is to upgrade the efficiency of port operations.
