MSC in major Oceania network revision

MEDITERRANEAN Shipping Company has today confirmed market rumours circulating for over a week, announcing a major overhaul of its Oceania region services effective immediately.

The weekly Wallaby service, which had a long rotation from Hong Kong and China to East Coast Australia, across to five NZ ports and then back to Melbourne and Brisbane before returning to China, will dispense with the NZ leg and consolidate to seven ships on a 49-day rotation.

Th new port order will be Sydney – Melbourne – Brisbane – Hong Kong – Yantian – Xiamen – Shanghai – Ningbo – Sydney, with MSC saying Sydney customers will get access to Hong Kong and China with faster transits than before.

Previous indications were that the now-fortnightly Kangaroo service from China would be terminated, with larger vessels used to re-populate Wallaby, but there is no mention of Kangaroo in today’s notice.

Noumea Express: to meet growing demand to/from the Pacific Island market, Fiji and Noumea will enjoy a dedicated weekly service, MSC says, which, via Tauranga and Sydney will grant access to the carrier’s direct services into USA, Europe, Asia and India.

The rotation becomes Sydney – Noumea – Lautoka – Suva – Tauranga – Sydney, which curiously omits Brisbane, a key South Pacific source port, so it may be supposed other MSC services will provide transhipment connections to this one. The current rotation is Sydney – Brisbane – Noumea – Lautoka – Suva – Tauranga – Nelson – Wellington – Bell Bay – Sydney.

Noumea Shuttle’s Tasmanian call now transfers to a new MSC service, Southern Loop, which the carrier says “will provide an enhanced gateway to and from New Zealand and Tasmania via Melbourne, creating a gateway for deep sea-bound cargo”.

The rotation will be Melbourne – Bluff – Port Chalmers – Lyttelton – Wellington – Nelson – Napier – Wellington – Bell Bay – Melbourne.

Finally, a Napier call is being added to the February-launched Eagle service to North America, inserted between Wellington and Tauranga in the rotation, which thus becomes Philadelphia – Savannah – Freeport – Rodman – Papeete – Auckland – Sydney – Melbourne – Brisbane – Wellington – Napier – Tauranga – Rodman – Cristobal – Philadelphia. An additional northbound call at Tauranga had been flagged but this has been cancelled.

MSC says the service enhancements are designed to offer greater schedule reliability while optimizing its Australian and New Zealand network.

Several of the changes are already being implemented, with the new, truncated Wallaby rotation commencing from MSC Nadia IV’s Port Botany call on Sunday [16 May]. The new Noumea Shuttle also begins at Port Botany this weekend, with MSC Davao III, while Eagle’s first Napier call is scheduled for 31 May, by MSC Durban IV. DCN is yet to see a schedule for Southern Loop.