MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is reinstating a second standalone service between the main ports of China and north Europe.
The so-called Swan service will be relaunched by the Geneva-based company on 9 June.
It will connect China with ports in the Benelux nations, Poland and the Baltics, including direct calls to Gdynia and Klaipeda from Asia.
MSC had formerly operated the service together with its 2M Alliance partner, AP Moller-Maersk.
However, the two alliance partners suspended their joint service in April 2020 due to low demand.
Details of the vessel to be operated on the Swan service have not yet been released.
But MSC’s decision to offer a standalone service signals that the company intends to offer a direct service after the end of the 2M Alliance in early 2025, Alphaliner said.
It is the second standalone Asia-Europe loop to be relaunched by MSC this year.
In March, the company relaunched the Dragon service between Asia and the Mediterranean, which the 2M partners had suspended in April 2020.
MSC is in a position to offer services outside of the alliance structure following phenomenal growth.
On 22 May, the company took delivery of the 24,116-teu MSC Gemma (built 2023) — the fourth of eight vessels that China’s CSSC Group will build for the operator.
That delivery meant the company became the first carrier to reach a fleet capacity of more than 5m-teu slots, Alphaliner said.
The analyst said the carrier’s massive orderbook will likely see the shipping line close in on a slot capacity of 6m teu as soon as next year.
