At the beginning of April 2004, Hapag-Lloyd will offer its customers an improved and expanded European Express Service (EEX), linking northern Europe with Italy and the eastern Mediterranean with weekly departures on fixed days.
Customers will benefit from the new and faster ships deployed for the service. With the calls at Lisbon and now also Gioia Tauro, excellent links will be provided with Hapag-Lloyd's American and Asian services. Very good links will also be offered with Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
The service will involve four containerships operating in the following rotation: Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Lisbon, Gioia Tauro, Taranto, Piraeus, Istanbul, Izmir, Taranto and Rotterdam again.
Hapag-Lloyd introduced the EEX service along with Lloyd Triestino and Hatsu Marine Ltd. in June 2003 in response to the increasing freight volume in the Mediterranean region.