Count Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) as another ocean carrier resuming service to the Port of Baltimore.
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The world’s largest container shipping company by cargo transported is adding the port back in as a destination to multiple service lines, following in the footsteps of rival carriers Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd .
MSC is returning to Baltimore two months after the collapse of the city’s Francis Scott Key Bridge , which temporarily blocked access to the port and forced it to shutter operations. The bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River when a container ship exiting the port lost power and crashed into one of its support columns. Six workers on the bridge died in the accident.
According to several customer advisories, bookings to and from Baltimore are open for acceptance. Reservations for ships entering Baltimore are subject to space availability.
MSC’s services that are moving cargo from Baltimore to northwestern Europe, South Africa, Mediterranean and the Far East will be reinstated across six vessels. The Turkey/Greece to U.S. service will be the first of those to go back online, with the MSC Ilona expected to reach Baltimore by June 4.
For cargo headed toward Baltimore, MSC is reinstating the port back into the ECSA (East Coast-South America) and Far East rotations. For the ECSA rotation, which also includes stops at New York, Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah, the MSC Alma VII will reach Baltimore by July 1. The Far East service will see the YM Trust stop at Baltimore on July 13.
New York and Norfolk have taken on the lion’s share of the cargo that had initially been prepared for the Port of Baltimore. As of May 17, the Port of New York took on the highest percentage of rerouted shipments at 55 percent, while the Port of Virginia harbored 22 percent, according to supply chain visibility platform Project44. Nine percent was instead dropped off at New York’s sister gateway, New Jersey’s Port Elizabeth.
The Port of Baltimore is the 15th-largest container port by 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) processed, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
MSC was also the shipping company that was by far the most exposed to any potential supply chain disruption stemming from the two-month blockade, says S&P Global Market Intelligence.
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The Switzerland-based ocean carrier, alongside Maersk and Zim, collectively represented nearly three-quarters of Baltimore’s container import traffic. In the year to the end of February, MSC accounted for 31.5 percent of the traffic. Maersk drove 21.8 percent, while Zim brought in 19.8 percent.
MSC made its decision after the Maersk-chartered Dali container ship responsible for the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse was refloated to the port . This marked the biggest milestone to getting the port back to normal operations, as it opened up a 400-foot-wide by 50-foot-deep channel that most commercials could safely pass through.
Prior to the refloating of the Dali, four alternative channels to the port were opened up by the Key Bridge Response Unified Command team, which is the group charge of the ongoing cleanup and recovery efforts.
But now, the end goal is to remove any remaining bridge wreckage, including all steel below the mudline, and restore the federal channel to its original width of 700 feet. Unified Command is targeting the end of May as the date for full clearance.
As for the Dali, it now sits at Berth One at the port, where it is being repaired. The vessel is expected to remain for the next four to six weeks, before traveling to Norfolk for more extensive repairs, and to unload the cargo.
The return of port operations also is a sigh of relief for many of the longshoremen who were largely out of work for the two-month period. According to Ports America Chesapeake President Mark Schmidt, 350 of the roughly 1,000 workers were still working during the outage, largely taking on maintenance and repair duties.
Some such duties included electrifying diesel equipment to operate the cranes and extensive repaving, Schmidt told local Baltimore CBS news affiliate WJZ.
Schmidt said Ports of America Chesapeake, which operates Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal, has 17 vessel calls on the calendar for the final week of May. By the middle or end of June, the terminal operator expects to have the full contingency of its services back in place.
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