MSC STARTS EUROPE/INDIA/PAKISTAN SERVICE
Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co. will start a direct, fortnightly service connecting north Europe and the Mediterranean to India and Pakistan in March.
The 1,776-TEU ship MSC Xingang is scheduled to start the new service when it sails from Antwerp on March 4.
The port rotation for the service is Antwerp, Felixstowe, Valencia, La Spezia, Naples, Piraeus, Jeddah, Karachi, Nhava Sheva, Salalah, Jeddah, Piraeus, Valencia, Antwerp and Felixstowe.
A spokesman for MSC confirmed that the carrier planned to upgrade the service to weekly in May.
The new service will give MSC two fortnightly calls at Salalah in Oman. Currently, it calls there on the Europe/Africa/Mideast service of the BEACON consortium, with Ellerman, Kenya National Shipping Line, P&O Nedlloyd, Safmarine, H. Stinnes Linien, West European Container Lines and Yemen Gulf Line.