BWR: MSC strengthens connections from Asia to the Red Sea

Ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Company will launch a new loop between Asia and the Red Sea Feb. 12.    Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) will launch a new service between Asia and the Red Sea in February, the ocean carrier said.
   Commencing Feb. 12 from Singapore with the MSC Washington, the weekly loop will offer direct sailings from Singapore to Salalah and Djibouti.
   In addition, the new service will offer service from Busan, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Chiwan and Yokohama to Salalah and Djibouti via transshipment in Singapore.
   Currently, no container services offer direct connections from Busan, Qingdao or Yokohama to Djibouti or Salalah, according to data gathered from BlueWater Reporting’s Country to Country Transit Analysis by Service application. The 2M Alliance’s TP3/TP12/Empire/New Orient service offers direct connections to Salalah from Ningbo (16 days), Shanghai (17 days), Chiwan (12 days) and Singapore (seven days).
   MSC’s new loop will provide similar transit times, offering transit times of 16 days to Salalah from Ningbo and Shanghai (transshipment), 13 days from Chiwan (transshipment) and nine days from Singapore.
   The chart below illustrates direct connections offered from the Asian ports of Ningbo, Chiwan, Shanghai and Singapore to Djibouti and how this new service will fit in the existing market. PIL and APL’s jointly operated RSS/REX offers the fastest direct transit times from Ningbo to Djibouti and Chiwan to Djibouti at 18 days and 14 days, respectively. In addition, the RSS/REX provides the fastest direct transit times from Singapore to Djibouti at 9 days.
   MSC’s new loop, however, will offer the fastest transit times from Shanghai to Djibouti at 19 days, but the fastest (and only) direct service from Shanghai to Djibouti is the RSS/REX.
   The Horn of Africa is operated by Maersk Line, while the REX3 is jointly operated by CMA CGM, UASC, CSCL and Hanjin.

Correction: A previous version of this story said the service would call Yokohama, Qingdao, Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Chiwan, Singapore, Salalah and Djibouti. However, direct sailings will only be offered from Singapore to Salalah and Djibouti, while the other Asian ports listed above will be served via transshipment through Singapore.