The purpose of this direct connection between the two regions for the Swiss/Italian container carrier is to reduce transshipment for customers and provide expedited transit times.
The service will offer Mundra to Genoa in 19 days, Valencia in 23 days and Nhava Sheva to Barcelona in 16 days, with no transshipment required between load and discharge ports, according to MSC’s announcement.
The first sailing will be with the 4,800 TEU container vessel MSC Shanghai from Abu Dhabi on 19 December.
The port rotation of the new service is the following:
Abu Dhabi (UAE) – Jebel Ali (UAE) – Mundra (India)– Nhava Sheva (India) – Djibouti (Africa)– Gioia Tauro (Italy)– Genoa (Genoa) –Barcelona (Spain)– Valencia (Spain)– Salerno (Italy)–Gioia Tauro (Italy)– Marsaxlokk (Malta)– King Abdullah (Saudi Arabia)– Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) – Abu Dhabi (UAE).