MSC adds weekly calls on Mobile Container Terminal
The world's second-largest containerized shipping company will now be calling on Mobile, according to local officials.
The Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company will stop every Monday morning in Mobile, said Brian Harold, director of APM Terminal Mobile, formerly known as the Mobile Container Terminal, the Mobile Press-Register reports.
The MSC vessel will be the fifth offering weekly service in Mobile. Global leader Maersk operates two ships that call on Mobile, CMA CGM operates one, and Zim Integrated Shipping Services operates one.
APM Terminal Mobile, which opened at Choctaw Point in October 2008, is owned by APM Terminals, a division of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.
Mobile was the nation's 27th-biggest container port in 2009, the most recent year national data is available from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center. That year the port handled about 86,000 20-foot equivalent units of cargo. One TEU is about the size of a standard container.
Harold said the Mobile terminal in 2010 handled 130,000 TEUs, and traffic has increased about 25 percent this year.
The container terminal has the capacity to handle about 350,000 TEUs a year. Once demand is close to eclipsing that, a second construction phase could push capacity to 800,000 TEUs.
The MSC line will be the first container ship to directly connect Mobile to Altamera and Veracruz in Mexico, Harold said. The Nafta Gulf Bridge, a company formed last year, operates a small roll-on, roll-off container ferry service between Mobile and Veracruz.
The MSC vessel will also call on Panama, a major trans-shipment point, Harold said.
Containers offloaded there could be redirected just about anywhere in the world, he said.
Having another shipping line should boost the terminal's volume and allow businesses near Mobile more access to international markets, Harold said.
"We have businesses in the area who wish they could ship through Mobile but can't because the vessels don't have the capacity," Harold said. "This will give customers more options."
The Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company will stop every Monday morning in Mobile, said Brian Harold, director of APM Terminal Mobile, formerly known as the Mobile Container Terminal, the Mobile Press-Register reports.
The MSC vessel will be the fifth offering weekly service in Mobile. Global leader Maersk operates two ships that call on Mobile, CMA CGM operates one, and Zim Integrated Shipping Services operates one.
APM Terminal Mobile, which opened at Choctaw Point in October 2008, is owned by APM Terminals, a division of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.
Mobile was the nation's 27th-biggest container port in 2009, the most recent year national data is available from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center. That year the port handled about 86,000 20-foot equivalent units of cargo. One TEU is about the size of a standard container.
Harold said the Mobile terminal in 2010 handled 130,000 TEUs, and traffic has increased about 25 percent this year.
The container terminal has the capacity to handle about 350,000 TEUs a year. Once demand is close to eclipsing that, a second construction phase could push capacity to 800,000 TEUs.
The MSC line will be the first container ship to directly connect Mobile to Altamera and Veracruz in Mexico, Harold said. The Nafta Gulf Bridge, a company formed last year, operates a small roll-on, roll-off container ferry service between Mobile and Veracruz.
The MSC vessel will also call on Panama, a major trans-shipment point, Harold said.
Containers offloaded there could be redirected just about anywhere in the world, he said.
Having another shipping line should boost the terminal's volume and allow businesses near Mobile more access to international markets, Harold said.
"We have businesses in the area who wish they could ship through Mobile but can't because the vessels don't have the capacity," Harold said. "This will give customers more options."