Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) recently announced Houston on the rotation in their Santana trans-Pacific service, which links Vietnam and Central China to the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts. Port Houston will be the first port call in the United States for the service, according to the company's release.
The rotation is Haiphong – Shanghai – Ningbo – Houston – Charleston – New York – Haiphong, offering a 31-day transit time between Vietnam and Houston.
Port Houston saw double-digit growth for nine consecutive months in 2021 and surpassed the 3 million TEU mark in November 2021. Growth in imports from Asia have been an important contributor to the increased cargo numbers. MSC’s Santana service will be the second Vietnam direct call to Port Houston.
The first vessel on this service called Haiphong on December 31, 2021 and is scheduled to call Port Houston’s Bayport Container Terminal. Port Houston is the marine terminal operator of two world-class container facilities: Barbours Cut Terminal, the first of its kind in the U.S. Gulf, and Bayport Container Terminal, which opened in 2007. Currently ranked 6th in the nation, Port Houston’s container terminals offer industry-leading truck-turn times and ease of access.
About Port Houston
For more than 100 years, Port Houston has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals along the Houston Ship Channel, including the area’s largest breakbulk facility and two of the most efficient container terminals in the country. Port Houston is the advocate and a strategic leader for the Channel. The Houston Ship Channel complex and its more than 200 public and private terminals, collectively known as the Port of Houston, is the nation’s largest port for waterborne tonnage and an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas and the U.S. The Port of Houston supports the creation of nearly 1.35 million jobs in Texas and 3.2 million jobs nationwide, and economic activity totaling $339 billion in Texas –20.6 percent of Texas’ total gross domestic product (GDP) – and $801.9 billion in economic impact across the nation.