MSC routes WB Asia/Europe service around Africa

MSC routes WB Asia/Europe service around Africa Swiss liner carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. has begun routing one of its Asia/Europe services around the Cape of Good Hope on both eastbound and westbound directions, according to American Shipper sister company ComPairData.
   MSC’s Lion service connects Singapore, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Busan and other Far East ports with Sines in Portugal and a handful of northern Europe ports. According to schedule research data from Randy Register of ComPairData, the transit times between Europe and Singapore have increased in both directions in recent months, signaling that the carrier is sailing around the tip of Africa eastbound and westbound.
   “Eastbound the Europe/Singapore transit has gone up from 20 days to 24 days (now the same transit time as for the Evergreen and Grand Alliance loops routed around Africa) while westbound the non-stop transit between Singapore and Sines, Portugal has also risen, from 16 days to 22 days, indicating that this is now most probably a round-Africa routing too,” added ComPairData’s Francis Phillips.
   The service now operates with 11 vessels, with an average size of 8,124 TEUs, on a 77-day weekly service.
   MSC said in January it was routing the Asia/Europe loop via the Cape of Good Hope for a trial period, but it appears the temporary move has become permanent. Carriers have increasingly been looking at measures to avoid paying Suez Canal transit fees (which run about $700,000 for ships the size MSC is using on the Lion service), particularly on the backhaul from Europe, where already meager rates have plummeted further and don’t justify carriers paying the tolls.
   Although steaming around Africa adds days to transit times, that doesn’t seem to be worrying carriers, with bunker costs low and with extra vessel capacity to utilize.
   The Lion service has a port rotation of Sines, LeHavre, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Antwerp, Singapore, Chiwan, Busan, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Singapore, Sines, LeHavre, Hamburg and Bremerhaven.
   MSC wasn’t available for comment. ' Eric Johnson