The Israeli shipping company ZIM announced a restructuring of its services worldwide in October 2014. Already operating several well-established services, ZIM have decided to call again at Barcelona as part of their ZIM Container Service Atlantic (ZCA) to provide a weekly connection between the Mediterranean and USA. The first call on this new venture took place on 5 October, when the Maltese- flagged ZIM Monaco (2009) arrived at the Barcelona Container Terminal.
A fast transit time of 13 days between Barcelona and New York is envisaged. As part of a new alliance between ZIM and Hapag-Lloyd, two more services link Spain with the MPS service, West Coast Pacific linking it with ports such as Cartagena and Los Angeles, and the MGX service linking it with Gulf of Mexico and USA ports. This new service also complements existing ZIM express services, such as the wellestablished Eastern Mediterranean/ Black Sea Express service (EMX), which is operated by such vessels as the Liberian-flagged ZIM Livorno (2006). RC