DP World announced that Maersk’s Costa Rica Express (CRX) service will make its first call at Southampton this week, giving fruit suppliers in Central America enhanced access to the UK and Western Europe.

The primary import product for the new service is bananas, which will be carried in refrigerated containers (reefers) to ensure a constant temperature from the farms to the ripening facilities and retail distribution centres in the UK. These will be delivered to DP World Southampton – the most productive container terminal in the UK, capable of turning vessels around faster than any of its competitors.

Ernst Schulze, UK Chief Executive of DP World, said: “Following on from last week’s news that we had moved a record volume of cargo at our two UK logistics hubs, we are delighted to welcome the latest new service to call at Southampton and benefit from our market-leading reefer capacity. It follows the outstanding track record at Southampton of the existing Colombia Express service (COEX), which also specialises in moving fruit in reefer units, with only two vessel calls in 12 months arriving more than 24 hours late.”

The Maersk CRX is the third new international shipping service to move to DP World’s UK ports this year, following several new arrivals in 2021. It has a rotation stretching from Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Veracruz, Altamira, Big Creek, Manzanillo (Pan), Moin and Cork to Southampton and back again. Southampton offers guaranteed weekly arrivals on Fridays to ensure the fruit arrives on time to ensure maximum availability to consumers. The first ship, Songa Puma, is expected to berth this Friday.

“Operating two ports — Southampton and London Gateway — means we offer unrivalled flexibility and choice to customers. Volumes can be switched quickly and easily between locations, giving customers more control over their supply chains and increasing security of supply for critical goods coming into the UK. No other logistics business can offer this level of flexibility and certainty,” Schulze added.

DP World – the leading provider of smart logistics solutions, helping trade flow across the globe – last week announced that its two ports in the UK handled a record volume of cargo in the first half of the year, with DP World London Gateway moving more than one million TEU’s in a six month period for the first time ever.