MSC will upgrade its USA to South Africa service to a standalone service from October 2025, replacing its long standing America Express (AMEX) service jointly operated with Maersk. The enhanced USA to South Africa service will retain the same AMEX port rotation that calls at New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Freeport (Bahamas), Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape Town, New York, with an additional call at Philadelphia to be added during the citrus season that normally runs from April to Octobe
MSC and Zim will restore the 1 of the 2 Far East-US East Coast services that was suspended since the beginning of May 2025. The 2 affected services are as follows: * Empire/Zim North Star (ZNS) service is resumed after 6 blanked sailings starting with the 6,724 teu MSC BARBARA at Qingdao on 14 June 2025. The service will resume its rotation calling at Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, New York, Norfolk, Baltimore, Busan * Pelican/Zim South Lotus (ZSL) service is still suspended with all of its previ
MSC has launched a new BUNGARAYA intra-Asia service connecting Shanghai, Ningbo, Port Klang, Penang, Pasir Gudang, Singapore, Shanghai from 7 April 2025. The BUNGARAYA service turns in 21 days using 3 ships of 1,700-2,500 teu starting with the 2,796 teu MSC CALIDRIS III followed by the 2,556 teu ETOILE and 1,730 teu MSC TRADER II.
MSC has cancelled the launch of its new Asia-Med Phoenix service that was originally scheduled to start at the end of February 2025 but have been repeatedly delayed before the service was finally withdrawn altogether in May 2025. The Phoenix service was to turn in 15 weeks using up to 15 ships of 6,000-14,000 teu to call at Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shekou, Singapore, Iskenderun, Piraeus, Trieste, Koper, Iskenderun, Mersin, Singapore, Busan. The Phoenix service was 1 of the 6 Asia-Med services
MSC will combine their FE-ME Clanga service with the FE-USWC Sentosa service turning it into a ME-FE-USWC pendulum service. The new Sentosa - Clanga service will call at Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Singapore, Karachi, Dammam, Hamad, Bahrain, Colombo, Port Klang, Singapore, Laem Chabang, Cai Mep, Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, Oakland, Yokohama, Qingdao and is expected to start from 17 May 2025 with the newly delivered 11,400 teu MSC FLORA. The Sentosa - Clanga service will turn in 112 day
MSC and Zim will withdraw 2 of their Far East-US East Coast services from May 2025 in response to the sharp drop off in China-US volumes and retain 4 of their remaining FE-USEC services with revised rotations as follows: * America/Zim Seven Seas (Z7S) : Yantian call is dropped and replaced by Haiphong as the service turns around in Vietnam and omits China. Revised rotation Colombo, Singapore, Laem Chabang, Haiphong, Cai Mep, Singapore, New York, Baltimore, Savannah, Jacksonville, Colombo from
MSC will split its North Europe-Asia-US West Coast Swan-Sentosa service into 2 separate services with the Asia-North Europe service renamed as the Swan that will call at Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian, Singapore, Sines, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Gothenburg, Aarhus, Hamburg, Antwerp, Port Klang, Singapore, Shekou, Busan from May 2025 with the Cape routing retained. The Yokohama call on the former Swan-Sentosa service will be dropped, along with eastbound calls at Laem Chabang and Vung Tau.
MSC will downgrade its Far East-US West Coast transpacific network to just 3 sailings per week, with the Orient service withdrawn from May 2025. It follows the earlier the suspension of the Mustang service launch in February. The Orient service called at Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, Oakland, Busan, Qingdao turning in 6 weeks using up to 6 ships of 8,000 to 15,000 teu. The last sailing was made by the 14,952 teu MSC ORION that departed from Busan from 21 April 2025 and 11,037 teu CAPE
MSC will leapfrog its rivals to become the largest global container port operator with the addition of Hutchison Port’s portfolio of terminals outside of China comprising of 39 terminals in 21 countries with consolidated container handling volumes of 51m TEU in 2024. MSC’s terminal operating arm, TIL, together with consortium partners BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners announced on 4 March 2025 an agreement to acquire 80% of Hutchison’s port interests at a total enterprise value of $2
MSC will suspend one of the 5 Asia to North America West Coast services that it planned to launch in 2025, reducing its Transpacific coverage to only 4 sailings per week. The withdrawal of the Mustang service that was to connect Xiamen, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, Busan, Xiamen would remove about 12,000 teu weekly from the FE-WCNA route and would release 7 ships that MSC said would be redeployed to other trades. The Mustang service had been operated in its pr