Cosmos not Catos for MSC

Hamburg-headquartered Hapag-Lloyd and Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are to start a new service connecting Europe and ports on the Atlantic seaboard of South America in September. Nine ships with the capacity to load up to 9,000 TEU, and with the ability to carry 1,325 reefer containers, will be deployed in the operation. Hapag-Lloyd will contribute four of the vessels.

In the West African port sector, Ghana is on the rise, while terminal development in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has stalled.

A consortium led by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has signed a 35-year concession to expand and operate the container terminal at the Port of San Pedro in Côte d’Ivoire. San Pedro is the second most important port in the country, but is currently much smaller than Abidjan. However, it handles most of the exports for the world’s biggest producer of cocoa. Total investment is put at CFA300B (US$500M), of which MSC will invest CFA130B.

The Port of Cádiz wants to become a player in the container handling market on Spain’s southern coast, but is there suffi cient demand?

The new port of Hamad in Qatar has officially opened, with all container operations transferred from the old port of Doha on 1 December. The first vessel to call was the 14,000 TEU MSC ESTHI, owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company of Geneva.

Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is to combine its Europe and North America/West Coast South America services into one.