New & Updated Services MSC Swiss-based MSC is expanding its weekly India-West Mediterranean (INDIA-WEST_MED) routing by adding a direct call at Leghorn Port, Italy. The new port rotation will be: Abu Dhabi - Jebel Ali - Nhava Sheva – Mundra – Djibouti - King Abdullah Port - Gioia Tauro – Leghorn – Genoa – Barcelona – Valencia – Salerno - Gioia Tauro – Marsaxlokk - King Abdullah Port – Jeddah - Abu Dhabi. NWC TO/FROM DUBLIN AND CORK - The carrier is also launching a new weekly service connecting Ireland, France and Belgium. The first direct call to Dublin will be on 28 February 2023, then to Cork on 3 March 2023 with the MV CARLA-LIV. The rotation will be: Antwerp – Dublin – Cork – Le Havre – Antwerp. MSC is expanding the ‘SENTOSA’ service to create a direct connection from north India to the main Southeast Asia ports and the US West Coast. The carrier announced that the first vessel westbound from the US West Coast to China and India would be MSC MARA, which is expected to depart Long Beach on 5 March. The full rotation for ‘Sentosa’ is Port Klang – Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas – Laem Chabang – Vung Tau – Da Chan Bay – Shekou – Long Beach – Oakland – Busan – Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Kaohsiung – Shekou – Singapore – Nhava Sheva – Mundra – Colombo – Port Klang. DRAGON – MSC is reintroducing the ‘Dragon’ service connecting Asia to Israel, Italy and the South of France, with the first service planned to depart on 15 March. The full rotation is: Shanghai – Ningbo – Yantian – Singapore – Ashdod (HCT) – Naples – La Spezia – Genoa – Fos sur Mer – Gioia Tauro – King Abdullah – Singapore – Shanghai. INDIA TO SOUTH AFRICA - In addition, MSC will launch a new service to connect Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East to South Africa, effective February 2023. Six vessels will be deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 4,500 TEU. The port rotation is: Mundra – Durban – Cape Town – Abu Dhabi – Ad Dammam – Bahrain – Karachi – Mundra. Maersk TH-9 - Maersk is launching a new Intra Southeast Asia service starting 8 April on a fortnightly basis. The service rotation will be: Laem Chabang – Kuantan - Tanjung Pelepas – Jakarta - Tanjung Pelepas – Songkhla - Laem Chabang. PIL TPS - PIL is introducing a new weekly service connecting the key ports of Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore under the name ‘TPS’. The first journey will take off on 15 February from Manilla. Port rotation will be: Bangkok – Laem Chabang – Manila – Singapore – Bangkok. ZIM ZCX - The Israeli carrier is introducing the ZIM Colibri Xpress (ZCX) connecting South America West Coast to US East Coast. Six vessels will be deployed on this weekly service with a total vessel capacity of 1,700 TEU. Rotation will be as follows: San Antonio - Callao - Guayaquil – Cartagena – Kingston – Philadelphia – Miami - Kingston - Buenaventura– Guayaquil– Callao - San Antonio. TFX - ZIM has also introduced a new service covering major ports in Southeast Asia and Australia, including Fremantle in Western Australia. The port rotation of the new service will be: Ho Chi Minh – Laem Chabang – Port Klang – Sydney – Melbourne – Fremantle – Port Klang – Ho Chi Minh. The carrier has also announced restructuring its ‘ZXB’ service with a new rotation. Starting late February, the weekly rotation will be: Jakarta – Laem Chabang– Cai Mep – Haiphong – Yantian – Kaohsiung – Panama Canal – Kingston – Baltimore – Norfolk – New York – Boston – Suez Canal – Jakarta. CMA CGM The French carrier is extending its ‘GUYANAS 2’ service to add the port of Saint Laurent du Maroni in French Guiana. The first call in Saint Laurent du Maroni will take place on 23 March and will continue on a monthly basis. Starting 26 February, CMA CGM and ONE will update the ‘NEX’ service connecting North Europe with the East Med/Levant. The updated rotation will call at Felixstowe – Hamburg – Rotterdam –Antwerp - Le Havre – Malta – Alexandria – Damietta – Beirut – Iskenderun – Mersin – Malta –Tanger – Felixstowe. ONE CP5 - As of February 2023, ONE will start to charter slots on Ocean Alliance’s HIX/AAC4/PCC1 service, which connects Asia to North America West Coast. There will be six vessels deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 13,300 TEU, according to Sea Intelligence. The port rotation of the service will be: Ningbo – Shanghai – Busan – Long Beach – Ningbo. In addition, the carrier will charter slots on CJX/AWE5/PE1/SEAP-services – on the Asia-NAWC leg. There will be nineteen vessels deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 15,000 TEU. The port rotation of the service will be as follows (with ONE being on board of calls marked with an asterisk): Port Klang* – Singapore – Jakarta – Laem Chabang* – Vung Tau* – Yantian* – Los Angeles* – Oakland* – Yantian* – Vung Tau* – Singapore* – Port Klang* – Colombo – Halifax – New York – Norfolk – Savannah – Charleston – Colombo – Port Klang. Making business even better… Going Green Wärtsilä will supply new emission-reducing systems to new vessels ordered by PIL. The vessels will be equipped with an LNG fuel gas supply system (FGSS), a propulsion control system and an alarm monitoring and control system. The systems will make the ships more energy-efficient and prepare them for the use of ammonia fuel. PIL has also partnered with i4 Insight to manage and evaluate the performance of its fleet. The agreement between the two partners is supported by PIL’s recently opened Centre for Maritime Efficiency (CME), which uses technology to achieve the company’s sustainability goals. According to Port Technology, PIL investment seeks to use digitalisation to maintain a strong competitive position. Two of COSCO Shipping’s subsidiaries plan to establish a joint venture that provides emission reduction and digital technologies for the maritime industry. According to Lloyd’s List, the joint venture will be named ‘Cosco Shipping Green Digital Intelligence Ship Services’ and will serve as a trading and technology platform for operations such as machine management, spare parts supply and new energy fuelling. “The joint venture is to be established with the aim of being a world-leading shipping services enterprise providing green, low-carbon and digital intelligence solutions for the full life cycle of the shipping industry,” said Cosco Shipping International. In addition, Cosco Shipping Group, and its unit Cosoc Shipping Development, have set up the China Electric Vessel Innovation Alliance to boost decarbonisation efforts in the shipping industry. Seatrade Maritime reported the alliance consists of members covering electric-powered propulsion system, vessel design and construction, port and terminal operations, science institution, electric-power battery supplier, industry investments and financing. HMM was the newest carrier to place orders for sustainable container ships this week, with news of it requesting the construction of nine vessels fitted to sail on both green methanol and traditional marine fuel. The ships have a capacity of 9,000 TEU each and are worth USD 1.1bn combined, reported Shipping Watch. Investment Ocean Network Express has signed an agreement acquiring a 51% stake in each of TraPac LLC and Yusen Terminals LLC (YTI) in Oakland and Los Angeles, respectively. The company commented on the acquisition, saying it is part of the integration of the container shipping businesses. “The newly acquired container terminals will safeguard ONE’s access to terminal capacity in key and strategic gateways, support its growth ambitions and enhance its service offerings to customers,” said the carrier. MSC added a new second-hand container ship ‘NYK Deneb’ with a 4,922 TEU capacity. This recent purchase would bring the MSC’s fleet of second-hand ships to 284. At the same time, the carrier has also sent a 37-year-old boxship to Indian recyclers. MSC Floriana has been sold for Hong Kong Convention green recycling for $520 per light displacement tonne, reported Lloyd’s List.