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By Tom Westcott.
Khoms, 8 May 2013:
The first vessel servicing a newly-launched route between Tunisia and Libya, set up by Tunisian shipping company CTN, docked today at the port of Khoms.
Amilcar, a 193-metre Ro-Ro (Roll-on/Roll-off) ship, designed to transport vehicles, was safely berthed this afternoon.
Its first cargo was relatively small, consisting of 38 containers and a single truck. However, the head of the marine department at the port of Khoms, Captain Salem Abughalia, told the Libya Herald that the route would take time to become established.
The vessel will now be making a weekly voyage between the port of Rades in Tunisia and Khoms.
CTN announced the new service in February, after it had shipped several loads of Tunisian goods to Libya for the Tunisian-Libyan Economic Chamber in January during the closure of the Ras Jedir border crossing between the two countries. There were, however, delays to the cargo service starting.
A spokesman for the company said the route was being set up in response to requests from the Arab Federation of Chambers of Commerce. The service may be extended to the port of Alexandria in Egypt in the future. [/restrict]
