MSC cuts West Coast calls on transpacific service

MSC cuts West Coast calls on transpacific service    MSC said last week it is converting its transpacific U.S. West Coast and East Coast pendulum service into a westbound round-the-world service that no longer calls at any U.S. West Coast ports.
   The service, dubbed Golden Gate by MSC, previously called at the Port of Long Beach on the return leg from three East Coast and two Caribbean ports. Ironically, considering the service name, Long Beach has been cut out of the revised rotation, and the head-haul leg, from Asia to North America, will sail westbound via the Suez instead of eastbound through the Panama Canal. It previously transited the Panama Canal in both directions.
   MSC said the rearranged service, which starts June 6, would provide for faster transit times from Asia to New York, including 21 days from Singapore. Also, MSC is dropping two vessels from the service, which previously employed 11 ships of 4,000 to 5,000 TEUs of capacity. The revised service will use nine 5,000-TEU ships, according to AXS-Alphaliner.
   The new rotation is Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian, Singapore, Suez Canal, New York, Savannah, Port Everglades, Freeport, Panama Canal, Manzanillo and Busan.
   The service is actually being streamlined further beyond the culling of the Long Beach stop, which indicates the service is focusing solely on U.S. East Coast and Gulf cargo. Three Far East calls, at Tokyo, Yokohama and Kaohsiung, are also being eliminated, as are double calls at Freeport and Manzanillo.
AXS-Alphaliner said the eliminated call to Long Beach “implies that the Freeport/Los Angeles segment used to relay North Europe and Med cargoes to the U.S. West Coast through connections with the North Europe/U.S. Gulf service and the Med/U.S. Gulf service are replaced by new transshipment options.”