[070811.EN.SEA] CSAV Builds Firmer Ties With MSC On Joint Services

CHILEAN carrier CSAV has made an agreement with MSC to jointly operate services between north Europe and South America west coast, Asia and South Africa, South America and Middle East, as well as South Africa, Middle East and India.

"This agreement will expand our coverage in these markets, improving transit times and frequency allowing use to provide a better service to our customers," said the company statement.

For north Europe-west coast of South America service, the joint weekly Euroandes service will deploy eight 5,000 TEU ships with first south bound sail starting from July 31 and first north bound service from August 4.

The rotation is Rotterdam, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Caucedo, Cartagena, Cristobal, Balboa, Callao, Puerto Angamos, Coronel, San Antonio, Balboa, Cristobal and back to Rotterdam.

On the South America-Med-Mideast trade, CSAV will be joining two MSC services connecting Spanish Mediterranean ports with the Canary Islands and the east coast of South America.

According to ComPair Data, the first loop runs with eight MSC 5,372-TEU ships and calls at Gioia Tauro, Livorno, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Las Palmas, Suape, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Navegantes, San Francisco do Sul, Santos, Sepetiba, Suape, Las Palmas, Algeciras, Valencia and back to Gioia Tauro.

And the second service calls at Valencia, Barcelona, Las Palmas, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Navegantes, Paranagua, Rio Grande, Santos and back to Valencia.

According to CSAV, the revised rotation will run with five MSC 4,627-TEU ships and have a second call at Santos from August.

The CSAV and MSC joint services to the Middle East will compete with Maersk Line's newly revamped Rumba service starting by the end of July, noted American Shipper. For South Africa-Middle East-India trade, the joint Marco Polo serivce will offer a weekly service before the first week of August deploying five 2,500-3,000 TEU ships.

That rotation is Durban, Jebel Ali, Karachi, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo and Durban. For CSAV, the Colombo and Mundra calls are new, while a Cape Town call on the Marco Polo is dropped. For MSC, a second northbound call at Colombo is dropped.

For Asia-South Africa trade, the ASAX weekly service will deploy seven 4,000 - 6,700-TEU ships by the end of July with a rotation of Fuzhou, Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Chiwan, Singapore, Port Louis, Durban, Ngura, Port Louis, Singapore, and back to Fuzhou.

Francis Phillips of ComPair Data said the cooperation enables CSAV "to maintain its brand in these trades for the next three years, as well as secure profits, while it allows MSC to fill larger ships."

Source : HKSG.