Port of Sete France

The southern French port of Sète has expressed 'relief' that major traffic has been captured for its brand-new but near-empty perishables terminal.

The terminal suffered a serious setback earlier this month with the collapse of Israeli supplier Agrexco but the port has found a major new customer.

Cosiarma, a subsidiary of Italy's GF Group, the parent company of the Sète terminal's owner, has replaced Agrexco which was to have been the €25 million facility's main customer,generating up to 200,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually.

Cosiarmahas signed a commercial agreement with shipping companies, Zim and Cosmed, for a new liner service in the West Mediterranean, chartering the two sister reefer ships previously deployed by Agrexco on the route.

Theservice will offer weekly, fixed-day sailings with the full round-trip itinerary reading Haifa-Ashdod-Sète-Genoa-Naples-Haifa.

Israeli financial publication Globeshas reported that Agrexco liquidator Shlomo Nass is likely to recommendthat the court accepts the NIS40m (€7.9m) bid from Bickel Flowers, which consists of an NIS16.1m (€3.2m) cash payment plus future payments derived from sales, over a rival bid from CAL Cargo Airlines owner Ofer Gilboa.

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