MSC has launched a new Torogoz Feeder service connecting Balboa, Acajutla, Puerto Quetzal, Balboa using the 1,878 teu MSC DIAMOND II. The service has been in operation since July 2023, and operates on a 2-3 week rotation on an irregular frequency.
MSC will revise the port rotation of the Far East-US East Coast Santana service from 2 December 2023 to call at Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Manzanillo, Cristobal, Caucedo, New York, Yantian. The revised service will turn in 11 weeks on a 77 day rotation and will deploy up to 11 neo-panamax ships of 13,000-15,000 teu. The new rotation will omit previous calls at Laem Chabang, Cai Mep and Norfolk while adding a new call at Yantian.
Hapag-Lloyd will receive next month the first of 9 ships of 14,372 teu that it has chartered from SFL and Enesel for 5 year periods in the first benchmark fixture for ships of this size following the expiry of their initial 10 year charter to Evergreen. The first 2 ships (THALASSA HELLAS and THALASSA PATRIS) are currently undergoing upgrades at COSCO Zhoushan including raised lashing bridges that will increase their nominal capacity from 13,808 teu to 14,372 teu. They will join the FE-US East
MSC has extended its lead at the top of the carrier rankings, with its current fleet reaching 5.36m teu, up from 4.61m teu at the beginning of January. Newbuilding deliveries contributed 557,000 teu to the increase, with the rest coming from second hand vessel acquisitions and new charters. MSC has grown at an average rate of 83,000 teu a month, with its lead over 2nd place Maersk rising to 1.24m teu. Maersk has seen its operated fleet shrink from 4.21m teu at the beginning of the year to 4.12
Zim has withdrawn its Zim Med ISC (ZMI) service from September 2023, with the last sailing departing from Haifa on 2 September 2023. The ZMI service called at Haifa, Aliaga, Valencia, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Ashdod, Limassol,Haifa,Colombo,Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Haifa turning in 5 weeks with 5 ships of 3,500-6,800 teu operated independently by Zim. Zim will replace the ZMI with slots on 3 MSC services covering 3 separate corridors that were previously served by the ZMI:
MSC and Zim have announced on 6 September 2023 a new operational cooperation agreement covering the trades between the Indian subcontinent with the East Mediterranean, the East Mediterranean with Northern Europe, and services connecting East Asia with Oceania. The cooperation is expected to be expanded when the current 2M-Zim collaboration is dissolved from January 2025, with MSC poised to further extend its current slot sale agreement with Zim on the Asia-PNW route to cover the Asia-US East Coa
MSC has added a Mex Gulf to Central America service through slots on Zim's Central America Gulf Xpress (CGX) that calls at Kingston, Houston, Altamira, Kingston, Moin, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Puerto Cortes, Kingston using 3 ships of 900-1,100 teu. The move follows the announcement of Zim's new operational collaboration agreement with MSC on trades connecting the Indian subcontinent with the East Mediterranean, the East Mediterranean with Northern Europe, and services connecting East Asia with
MSC has launched a new Zambezi Express service that connects Port Louis and Beira using the 3,301 teu MSC ALEXA and 2,764 teu MSC PATNAREE III. The service started from 16 August 2023 and turns in 12-14 days with the 2 ships providing weekly departures from Mauritius and Mozambique.
Zim will join MSC on the North Europe-Israel trade by contributing two out of the 5 ships on the revised Zim North Europe Israel (ZNI)/Israel Express service from the end of August 2023. The service will call at Ashdod, Haifa, Damietta, Valencia, London Gateway, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Ashdod with the 7,403 teu KURE, 6,724 teu MSC LORETTA from MSC 5,550 teu MSC VIGO that will be joined by the 6,881 teu ZIM ALABAMA and 6,644 teu ZIM VIETNAM. This is the 3rd trade in which Zim and
MSC and Zim will jointly operate the enhanced Panda/Zim Northeast Asia-Australia (ZAX) service from 18 October 2023 following the withdrawal of Zim's own China-Australia Express (CAX) service. The Panda/ZAX will call at Nansha, Hong Kong, Yantian, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Hong Kong, Yantian, Nansha using 7 ships of 5,000 teu of which 4 will be operated by MSC and 3 will be from Zim. Revised rotation of the new Panda/ZAX service from Octob