Fresh from acquiring control of the New Container Terminal, in the Namibian port of Walvis Bay, via a 25-year operating concession, MSC has unveiled a redesigned southern Africa network.
The world’s largest container shipping line said today it would develop Walvis Bay into a transhipment hub for southern Africa cargo, although it would also continue to use Cape Town as a partial transhipment hub for its deepsea NWC (Europe)-South Africa service.
“Walvis Bay will become our new transhipment hub in Southern Africa west coast, facilitating the movement of goods from Europe via our NWC to South Africa service,” the carrier said in a customer advisory today.
The rejigged service will have a southbound call at Walvis Bay from 20 January, with the departure of the 4,900 teu MSC Rosaria from London Gateway. In addition, a call at Ngqura (Coega) appears to have been dropped in favour of a call at Port Elizabeth. The full port rotation will be: London Gateway-Bremerhaven-Rotterdam-Antwerp-Le Havre-Sines-Las Palmas-Walvis Bay-Port Elizabeth-Durban-Cape Town-Las Palmas-London Gateway.
According to the eeSea liner database, MSC deploys nine vessels on the service, with an average capacity of 7,900 teu.
The redesigned mainline service will also be accompanied by the launch of two new feeder loops out of Walvis Bay.
The Namibia Express service – a pendulum string between Walvis Bay and Cape Town with a three-day transit time – is set to launch on 8 January, with the departure of the 2,100 teu MSC Himanshi from the Nambian hub.
The vessel is currently deployed on MSC’s Mozambique Shuttle service between South Africa and Mozambique, which will be relaunched and also utilise the carrier’s new terminal capacity in Namibia. The rejigged service will launch with the departure of the 2,800 teu MSC Imma III from the Mozambique port of Beira on 14 January, and will feature a port rotation of Beira-Walvis Bay-Durban-Maputo-Mombasa-Dar Es Salaam-Beira.
The chief change is that Walvis Bay will handle the transhipment cargo rather than South African terminals, where service levels continue to pose challenges.
MSC confirmed today: “For cargo import/export Europe, Walvis Bay will serve as [the] transhipment hub for cargo destinated to Maputo and Beira.”