Fan-Ya-Guang-Zhou

Sold for $7.5M from Seacastle (Singapore) to Cosco Shipping

Mediterranean Shipping Company has launched a new Australia Express service, linking Australian ports directly with Europe, India, the Middle East, and Pakistan. The new service will remove the need for transhipments through Singapore, with its first sailing to be made by SCT Zurich out of Sydney, on March 23rd, the company said. MSC state manager for Western Australia/Northern Territory Robert Boyce says the service is a reorganisation of existing liner services to directly connect Australia with major markets instead of routing cargo via Singapore. Previously the shipping company has used the island nation, a major shipping hub, as a transit point to ship cargo to Europe, India, the Middle East, Pakistan, and the Red Sea region. “It’s a modification of a current service we have been running, not an additional service in the market,” said Boyce. “It’s taken the transhipment off of Singapore and made us more competitive.” MSC vessels will depart Australia out of Fremantle after calling at Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. The vessels on the new service will then circuit from Singapore to Chennai, Colombo, King Abdullah Port, Gioia Tauro, Valencia, Fos, La Spezia, Naples, Gioia Tauro, and Suez before heading south to Pointe des Galets, Port Louis and east back to Sydney. The express service connects directly with other MSC routes, providing improved transit times and a wider transhipment network, which MSC says will make the shipping line’s services more competitive through enhanced efficiency. http://customstoday.com.pk/mediterranean-shipping-company-reorganises-australia-service-to-be-more-competent/

12 months charter, trading Far East, MSC