by Manal Barakat, SeaNewsEditor
After significantly expanding its fleet, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has unveiled its new East-West trade network, set to commence in February 2025.
Statistics show that the carrier's fleet now accounts for nearly 20% of global capacity, with 853 ships and the largest orderbook among carriers.
The announcement comes as MSC prepares to assume full operational control of its network following the conclusion of the 2M Alliance with Danish carrier Maersk.
MSC describes the new network as a "standalone" network for East-West trades, emphasizing that shippers will have the option of weekly services via both the Suez Canal and the Cape of Good Hope, with over 1,800 direct port pairs for each.
At the moment, however, the carrier continues to reroute most vessels around Africa due to Red Sea disruptions.
Network structure
According to the announcement, MSC’s future network will include 34 loops across five key trades, providing extensive coverage and flexible routing options. The loops include:
- 7 loops for Asia-North Europe
- 6 loops for Asia-Mediterranean
- 4 loops for Asia-North America West Coast
- 6 loops for Asia-North America East Coast
- 11 loops for the Transatlantic Network
In addition to the new announcement, MSC has established a slot exchange partnership with the newly formed Premier Alliance, which includes Ocean Network Express, HMM, and Yang Ming, to enhance its presence on Asia-Europe trade routes.
Services and transit options
In a detailed guide to the new structure, MSC illustrated the port rotations - via the Suez Canal and the Cape of Good Hope - for 19 services on Asia ↔ North Europe, Asia ↔ Mediterranean, and Asia ↔ North America East Coast.
Furthermore, the carrier illustrated the routes of services on Asia ↔ North America West Coast and the Transatlantic trades.
While the port calls on the services from Asia are essentially the same for both transit options, the transit times will vary for journeys through the Suez Canal.
MSC's Lion service (westbound), for example, will offer direct calls from Qingdao to Belgium and Germany with two route options: the Suez and the Cape of Good Hope.
The westbound journey via the Suez Canal is estimated to be 12 days shorter than the journey around Africa.
Kuehne+Nagel expert opinion
Kuehne+Nagel expects 2025 to be a very important year for carriers and alliances.
The breakup of 2M and the formation of Gemini Cooperation have initiated a series of carrier re-alignments in cooperation agreements as well as network re-design.
As the largest global carrier, MSC has provided an in-depth view of its new network deployment. At this time, it appears to be comprehensive in capacity, coverage and frequency.
Clearly, MSC is leveraging their size to deploy a robust product offering.
Our biweekly carrier services update informs you about the new and modified ocean freight services top carriers offer. You can also visit seaexplorer to find port-to-port routings for your shipment.
