CMA CGM will drop Leixões as a direct call on its Mediterranean and Southern Europe MPS service from 2 October, when the VENTO DI LEVANTE arrives in Setúbal on voyage 0XPMHW1MA under the revised rotation.

The change means northern Portuguese cargo that previously moved on a direct MPS vessel call at Leixões will instead connect through Setúbal, using weekly feeder sailings or rail services operated by the carrier.

For shippers in and around Porto, the practical consequence is an extra leg on every Mediterranean shipment. Cargo bound for or originating in Leixões will transship at Setúbal before joining, or after leaving, the mainline MPS loop. CMA CGM will run the weekly feeder connections between Setúbal and Leixões on its PGE and PGW services, and will also offer rail as an alternative inland connection through Setúbal.

The full revised MPS rotation reads: Setúbal – Marseille – Genoa – La Spezia – Piraeus – Beirut – Lattakia – Mersin – Alexandria – Salerno – La Spezia – Genoa – Barcelona – Casablanca – Setúbal.

What changes for Leixões shippers?

Leixões loses its direct mainline connection but keeps weekly coverage through two feeder products. That preserves frequency on paper — one sailing a week each way — while adding a transshipment point at Setúbal for every box.

The key trade-offs for cargo owners:

• An additional transshipment leg at Setúbal for all Leixões volumes
• Weekly feeder frequency via the PGE and PGW services
• Rail as an alternative inland routing through Setúbal
• Continued single-carrier custody of the box from origin to destination

For forwarders booking Iberian Mediterranean cargo, the revision narrows the set of direct-call options into northern Portugal on this trade. Any customer whose supply chain depends on tight port-to-port transit times through Leixões will need to revalidate schedules against the new feeder-linked routings from early October.

Why the carrier restructured the loop

CMA CGM said the changes are designed to improve service regularity and reliability while supporting connections with other ports across the Mediterranean. Stripping a call from a loop typically removes port time and the variability that comes with it, allowing the remaining calls to run closer to schedule — a benefit to shippers at the ports that stay on the string, from Casablanca to Alexandria, at the cost of an indirect routing for those at the dropped port.

The rotation retains its dual coverage of the Ligurian gateways, calling La Spezia and Genoa twice each per cycle, and keeps the Eastern Mediterranean run through Piraeus, Beirut, Lattakia and Mersin before swinging back through Alexandria and Salerno.

What to watch next

The effective date is fixed to a specific voyage, not a calendar-week cutover: the revision begins with the VENTO DI LEVANTE on voyage 0XPMHW1MA, scheduled to reach Setúbal on 2 October. Shippers with bookings on earlier MPS voyages should confirm with the carrier whether their cargo still touches Leixões directly or already moves via the feeder setup. From October onward, Leixões volumes ride the PGE and PGW feeders or the rail link through Setúbal, and the market will be watching whether the promised gains in regularity hold across the tightened rotation.