Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1491498
4 NEWS 2.2.2023 MALTA Freeport Terminals has been chosen by the world's largest shipping company, MSC, as the facility for its new direct service connecting India and the West Mediterranean. e 11,700 TEU container MSC Iva- na – the first containership to call at the Freeport on the India-West Med Ser- vice – berthed at Terminal One North Quay and a five megamax crane for- mation was deployed to efficiently dis- charge and load more than 1,800 con- tainers. Malta Freeport Terminals CEO Alex Montebello said: "We are pleased to extend our relationship with MSC through this service which continues to reinforce Malta's status within the MSC network." e new service offers transit times between Mundra and Genoa in 19 days, Valencia in 23 days and Nhava Sheva to Barcelona in 16 days. e 'India – West Med Service' also connects with MSC's broad intermodal networks in Genoa and Valencia, open- ing new opportunities for exporters across the region and enhancing sup- port for automotive, apparel and phar- maceutical industries between India and the West Mediterranean. Major shipping lines currently calling at the Freeport include the Ocean Alli- ance – CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen as well as MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, Marfret, and ONE. Malta Freeport is an essential hub for both the international and local com- mercial community being globally con- nected through 16 mainline services calling on a weekly basis at the Freeport and providing links to 115 ports world- wide, over 50 of which are in the Med- iterranean. Malta Freeport Terminals has in re- cent years invested heavily in upgrading all areas of the operation: from develop- ing the berths, to new equipment, the development of a new fuel station com- plying with the latest environmental standards; increasing reefer slots as well and installing the latest IT and semi-au- tomation technology among others. e facility handled 2.89 million TEUs in 2022 in what proved to be a chal- lenging year for the industry due to the aftermath of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and will be intensifying its focus on the further development of its facilities aimed at strengthening its physical capability to efficiently service container ships of the future. e new India-West Med Service calls at Malta Freeport – King Abdullah – Jeddah– Abu Dhabi - Jebel Ali – Mun- dra – Nhava Sheva – Djibouti – Gioia Tauro – Genoa – Barcelona – Valen- cia – Salerno – Gioia Tauro and back to Malta Freeport. Freeport chosen by MSC for new direct route linking Med with India MSC Ivana at Malta Freeport JOSEPH Attard has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ARMS Ltd from 1 February. He will succeed Silvio Scerri, who served in the post for the past four years. Attard is an architect by profession and has coordinated various large-scale projects both locally and abroad. Attard has worked both in the private and public sectors, including at Malta Transport Authority and Foundation for Tomorrow's School. Recently, Attard served as CEO at IN- DIS. New CEO at ARMS Ltd HandsOn Systems in the limelight at Agro Belgrade HANDSON Systems, in collab- oration with their Serbia office, has participated in Agro Belgrade 2023, an international exhibition bringing together the most im- portant companies in the field of agriculture and food production. HandsOn Systems successfully generated new business contacts while showcasing its products and technologies. rough their seamless IoT solutions, including RFID for livestock tracking and IoT for ag- ricultural soil analysis and crop health, they attracted a lot of interest and received good feed- back. From the automation of live- stock counting to the improve- ment of the quality of production, HandsOn IoT solutions aim to help the agricultural sector to be- come smarter and more efficient. The team from HandsOn Systems at the Agro Belgrade 2023 exhibition