- Mediterranean Shipping Company’s weekly calls at Charleston from Nansha, Shanghai and Xiamen reduced to monthly due to US port congestion
- MSC planning to adjust sailing program on its Asia to US and Canada network to match actual departure dates from Asia
- Maersk resumes on March 13 port call by one of its vessels at Halifax, Nova Scotia
Mediterranean Shipping Company from March will temporarily reduce its calls at Charleston, South Carolina, to once per month from weekly due to congestion at that US port, affecting US-bound exports from three key ports in China.
MSC’s closest competitor, AP Moeller Maersk, said it will resume a port call by one of its vessels at Halifax, Nova Scotia on Canada’s North Atlantic coast.
“Please be advised that due to the current congestion at the Port of Charleston, MSC will temporarily call Charleston once per month instead of on a weekly basis, until further notice,” MSC said in an advisory to customers.
The company said it is planning to adjust the sailing program on its Asia to US and Canada network to match actual departure dates from Asia as it monitors the challenging market situation that is impacting port activities and generating congestion across the supply chain.
The change will affect movement of goods at three Chinese key ports of loading – Nansha, Shanghai and Xiamen.
According to the adjusted arrival, the vessel Conti Makalu from Shanghai has a new expected time of arrival of March 14. The MSC Mundra is expected to arrive from Nansha on April 15, and the Seroja Lima will arrive from Xiamen on April 20.
The company said customers may continue to place bookings in agreement with their local agent or reroute the cargo via an alternative port.
MSC said the next vessel to call Charleston will be the MSC Tavvishi on voyage UA206A on March 14, after which the liner operator will blank the remaining sailings for March, with the next scheduled sailing expected in April, with the vessel still to be defined.
Meanwhile, Maersk said its vessel Maersk Patras 205W/207E is expected to arrive in Halifax on March 13, “to control the gap of service with an aim of minimum fortnightly calls to Halifax during the upcoming weeks.”
This follows Maersk’s omission of the calls of Maersk Penang 204W/206E and EM Kea 207W/209E at Halifax since February 12 due to a host of concerns, namely, bad winter weather in North Europe and during the Atlantic Ocean crossing; congestion at North European terminals and COVID-related delays at the time vessels need quarantine for 14 days.
