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Mackenzie plans new direct services from JNPT/NSICT

Our Bureau

KOLKATA, July 2

F S MACKENZIE, the UK-based freight services agency and NVOCC (non-vessel-owning cargo carrier), already active on the trade route between the UK and India, proposes to strengthen its presence in the route by introducing new direct export services from J NPT/NSICT to benefit Indian exporters, according to informed sources.

At present, the company operates a weekly service between Felixstowe and JNPT/NSICT with 25-day transit time with focus on imports. It is one of the few direct services offered by NVOCCs in this trade, most others offering services via transhipment. The launch of the new service, it is felt, will provide a better balance between imports and exports.

F S Mackenzie has been present in India for over two years, with the appointment of Natvar Pariks Industries as its sole agent in 1999. Through this partnership, a wide range of freight and value-added services covering air and ocean freight, container storage and handling and general and project forwarding are offered.

India has always been a major market for the UK and trade relations between the two countries are expected to receive a big boost in view of on-going bilateral initiatives mooted in recent times, the sources add.

Meanwhile, Switzerland's Mediterranean Shipping Company has upgraded its fortnightly sailings to India via the Red Sea and Pakistan to a weekly service, it is learnt. The service, launched in March this year, is operated with six vessels each of 2000-TEU s capacity.

The ships call at Valencia, La Spezia, Naples and Piraeus to carry the North European cargo bound for the Mediterranean. The transhipment at Valencia also helps them carry cargo for north African destinations such as Tunis and Algiers. After calling at t he Red Sea ports of Aqaba, Jeddah and Djibouti, the vessels head across the Arabian Sea for Karachi (Pakistan) and JNPT (India).