New MSC vessels cut days off transit time

RAY SMUTS
TIME WAITS for no progressive shipping carrier, certainly not Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which has in the last nine months not only introduced a faster service to Europe out of Cape Town but also a new service to Angola. “It is quite clear from the larger and faster vessels we are deploying on the South Africa-Europe run that we have enhanced our service and, without a doubt, improved schedule integrity tremendously,” says MSC regional director for the Western Cape, Mike Economou. “We have seven vessels of 4 000 TEU-plus on this service which clearly puts us in quite a strong position to combat delays, but delays will be delays. “In January MSC experienced delays of 183 hours, mostly due to wind, as opposed to 109 hours in February, which is exceptional.” The former vessels on the South Africa-Europe service were of 3 500 TEU capacity on average but the new ships have reefer capacity of some 300 plug points, auguring well for the carrier’s reefer business in particular. Economou says the larger vessels are cutting transit time from Cape Town to Felixstowe (UK) by two or so days including MSC main continent ports, clearly of great significance to those engaged particularly in perishable exports. Another milestone for MSC out of the Western Cape was the launch in July last year of a two new-vessels, four and a half day transit service from the Mother City port to Luanda (Angola), also covering Lobito in the process. Commenting on the fledgling service, Economou says: “Basically, we are moving a shopping basket of commodities including refrigerated cargo on our two vessels, the MSC Sheila and MSC Toulouse.” The bottom line, really, is that MSC is able to provide its client base with a high calibre of service on both the SA-Europe and CT-Angola routes, he added.