Peter Leach | Jan 26, 2012 8:33AM EST
Mediterranean Shipping plans to shuffle the U.S. East Coast port rotation of its Golden Gate Service from the Far East in February.
The service will call at Norfolk twice and make it the last port of call on the way back to China.
“It gives us the opportunity to capture more export traffic and take advantage of MSC's big ships — load them heavy — and capitalize on our 50-foot channels," said Joe Harris a spokesman for the Virginia Port Authority. “We expect to pick up more export cargo coming New York, Northern Virginia/Washington, DC and North Carolina.”
MSC deploys 12 vessels, on the Golden Gate Service, each with a capacity of 6,050 20-foot equivalent units. MSC added Norfolk to the rotation in November.
The revised port rotation of the Golden Gate Service will be: Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Singapore, Salalah, Suez Canal transit, New York, Norfolk, Baltimore, Savannah, Freeport (Bahamas), Charleston, Norfolk, Suez Canal transit, Jeddah, Colombo, Singapore, Chiwan and back to Hong Kong.
-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.