Next Monday, the Turkish shipping company Arkas Line will start the new weekly direct service Med Africa Service (MAS) from the Eastern Mediterranean and from Italy to Africa created through the combination of the current Blue Med Service (BMS) and West Africa Service (WAS). Arkas has highlighted that up to now shipments to Africa had been carried out by transhipment in Morocco, while the new MAS allows direct access to these destinations by reducing significantly transit times.

The rotation of the MAS service will touch the ports of Alessandria, Beirut, Lattakia, Mersin, Aliaga, La Spezia, Genoa, Casablanca, Dakar, Lagos (Apapa, Tincan), Tema, Abidjan, Nouakchott, Casablanca, Tangier, Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille Fos, La Spezia, Genoa, Salerno, Alessandria. The service will be operated by ten vessels, each with a capacity of between 1,600 and 2,500 TEU.