CMA CGM & Saudi's Folk Maritime Collaborate on Red Sea Service

French shipping giant CMA CGM is teaming up with Folk Maritime, an emerging feeder and short-sea navigation company based in Saudi Arabia, to launch the North Red Sea Express (NRX) service soon.

This new service aims to connect Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Islamic Port with NEOM, a futuristic city project in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and extend connections to the North Red Sea destinations of Sokhna in Egypt, Aqaba in Jordan, and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia.

The scheduled route for this service is:

Starting from Jeddah RSGT (Saudi Arabia), moving to Jeddah DPW (Saudi Arabia), then NEOM (Saudi Arabia), followed by Sokhna (Egypt), Aqaba (Jordan), Yanbu (Saudi Arabia), and back to Jeddah RSGT (Saudi Arabia).

Operating on a weekly basis, the NRX service is slated to begin its operations from Jeddah on April 9, with each company contributing one container vessel to the service.

"CMA CGM is pleased to partner with Folk Maritime in this upgraded service connecting Jeddah ports to the growing market needs of NEOM and other key ports in the North Red Sea. This service will not only contribute to Saudi Arabia's expansion of its logistic capabilities in the North Red Sea but also serve our customers with a better offering in this key region where CMA CGM Group has been pioneering direct calls to the port of NEOM since March 2023," Olivier NIVOIX, executive vice-president of CMA CGM Group Lines said.