UASC joins MSC’s West Med to ECSA service

The ocean carrier began purchasing slots on a dedicated service between the Mediterranean and the East Coast of South America.    United Arab Shipping Co. has begun a slot charter agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co., Hamburg Sud and subsidiary Alianca on their joint West Mediterranean to East Coast South America MESA service, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting. UASC has dubbed it the SAM3.
   The first sailing departed June 5 from Gioia Tauro on the Rio de Janeiro.
   The full rotation of the string remains Gioia Tauro, Leghorn, Genoa, Marseilles-Fos, Barcelona, Valencia, Suape, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio Grande, Navegantes, Porto Itapoa, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Suape, Tanger, Valencia and Gioia Tauro.
   The MESA operates with eight vessels with an average capacity of 5,697 TEUs. MSC provides six of the ships, while Hamburg Sud and Alianca provide one vessel each.
   UASC also purchases slots on MSC and Maersk Line’s Rumba/Bossa Nova service, which connects the Mediterranean with the East Coast of South America and the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, calling it the SAM1, and Hamburg Sud’s River Plate loop, which it calls the SAM2.
   The MESA service is the only dedicated loop between the Mediterranean and East Coast of South America on which UASC participates.