MSC to use larger ships on Europe-South Africa service

The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Greece, has started boosting the capacity of its Europe-South Africa service by replacing the 5,000TEU vessels previously used on this service with ships ranging between 5,000TEU and 6,000TEU.

Two 4,953TEU box ships, the ‘MSC Catania’ and the ‘MSC Messina’, are currently being used to run the service. The 5,762TEU ‘MSC Los Angeles’ is expected to join the loop, becoming the largest containership ever to trade between Europe and South Africa. MSC has just recently taken charge of the ‘MSC Los Angeles’, after chartering the ship from CSCL. The Chinese shipping line had freed up the ER Schiffahrt-managed vessel, by removing calls at the ports of Barcelona and Valencia from its AEX-1 loop. Following the ‘MSC Los Angeles’, the 5,527TEU ‘MSC France’ will enter MSC's Europe-South Africa service in mid-August. MSC will also take charge of two more 5,500TEU box ships sublet from CSCL, the ‘CSCL Shanghai’ and the ‘CSCL Hong Kong’, and three sister ships to the ‘MSC Los Angeles’, namely the ‘E R Amsterdam’, the ‘E R Felixstowe’ and the ‘E R London’, which are currently ending their charters with Maersk Line.
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