Italy's Cosiarma S.p.A., a company belonging to GF Group, which chartered the two sister reefer ships Cala Pira and Cala Paradiso ( known in the past: ‘Carmel EcoFresh’ and ‘Carmel Bio-Top’) previously employed by Agrexco in the service between Israel and the West Mediterranean, announced the discontinuation of the service.
The ships were employed in a regular liner service with weekly, fixed-day sailings and the following itinerary: Haifa – Ashdod – Sète – Genoa – Naples – Haifa.
Each ship is able to load around 4.100 pallets of fruit and vegetables in hold and TEU 630 on deck, with 144 reefer plugs and has a service speed of 21 knots.
Israeli growers who expressed their concern following the announcement noted that Cosiarma's regular service enabled them to export fresh produce at reasonable freight rates to the south of France and North Europe.
