CMA CGM has cut the northbound Salerno call from its FEMEX1 service, narrowing Italian port coverage on the North Europe–East Mediterranean trade with immediate effect for shippers moving cargo through the Tyrrhenian basin. The French carrier operates the loop with seven container ships averaging roughly 5,000 TEU each — a combined deployed capacity of about 35,000 TEU across the string.

The change removes a direct northbound link between the Campania region and Northern Europe. Salerno had served as the gateway for southern Italian exports and imports on the rotation, and cargo owners there will now need transshipment via another Mediterranean hub or an alternative service.

Following the removal, FEMEX1 continues to connect Northern Europe with Malta, Greece, Türkiye and Spain. That keeps the core geography of the loop intact: the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian legs lose the Salerno touch, but the Greek and Turkish calls that anchor the service remain unchanged.

What is the revised FEMEX1 rotation?

The updated port sequence is:

• Felixstowe
• Antwerp
• Rotterdam
• Hamburg
• Malta
• Piraeus
• Istanbul (Ambarli)
• Izmit (Gebze)
• Gemlik
• Aliaga
• Algeciras
• Felixstowe

Salerno no longer appears in the northbound schedule. The loop still calls four Turkish ports — Ambarli, Gebze, Gemlik and Aliaga — which underlines where the carrier sees the densest cargo base on the string.

What does it mean for shippers and forwarders?

For exporters around Salerno and Naples, the immediate commercial consequence is a longer supply chain. Options include inducement calls, slot arrangements on other loops serving North Europe–Italy, or routing through Malta or Piraeus, both of which remain on the FEMEX1 rotation and can act as relay points. Each adds handling steps and days to transit times.

For CMA CGM, the move trims a call that presumably no longer justified its schedule cost. Every port call on a loop of this length consumes steaming and berth time; cutting one tightens reliability across the remaining eleven calls and frees capacity on vessels of around 5,000 TEU. Carriers routinely rebalance strings when utilization at a specific call lags the rest of the rotation, and network pruning of this kind tends to precede or accompany broader capacity adjustments on Mediterranean trades.

Forwarders with consolidated Italian bookings should verify which alternative products — CMA CGM's or partners' — now carry Salerno-area cargo northbound, and rebook accordingly before sailing schedules shift.

The wider signal is one of network discipline rather than retreat: CMA CGM keeps seven ships and the full Turkish and Greek coverage on FEMEX1, concentrating volume on calls with the strongest cargo fundamentals. Whether Salerno returns to the loop, or Italian cargo shifts permanently to relay routing via Malta and Piraeus, will depend on how demand on the North Europe–Mediterranean lane develops over the coming months.