The cooperation agreement between 2M and Hyundai Merchant Marine expires at the end of the first quarter of 2020. MSC announced a new cooperation agreement with SM Line, beginning on 1 April 2020.
The new agreement with SM Line is separate from the 2M Vessel Sharing Agreement between MSC and Maersk, and the services of 2M and SM Line will complement each other. It consists of a combination of slot exchanges and slot purchases among the three parties – MSC, Maersk and SM Line – and it is subject to regulatory approval.
With the new agreement, MSC will be in a strong position to continue to offer six weekly services between Asia and the West Coasts of the US and Canada. These are detailed in the table below.
Notable highlights:
MSC will from April offer three Pacific North West region services – a major improvement on the single Pacific North West service in place today
Transit times will become more competitive from key Asian ports of loading to the West Coast of North America. For example:
The Orient service calls at major central and northern Chinese ports, then on to Busan, South Korea, and straight to the US
The Maple service ensures we provide good service continuity from China and South Korea to Canada, and includes a call in Yokohama before direct transit to Prince Rupert
The new MSC Rose service, spanning China, South Korea, Canada and the US states of Washington and Oregon, will benefit from exclusive access to space on SM Line’s Pacific North West Service.
MSC’s existing services to the US East Coast and Gulf remain unchanged and, also, the agreement between 2M and ZIM in the Pacific North West region remains in full effect.
Here are the full port rotations for MSC services on the updated MSC transpacific network, connecting China, South Korea, southeast Asia with the US and Canada:
