Mediterranean Shipping Company's (MSC) planned China-US West Coast service, "Mustang," appears to be in limbo as transpacific freight rates decline. Launched initially in October 2021, Mustang was discontinued in June 2022 when the pandemic-driven shipping boom subsided.
MSC attempted to relaunch the service in July 2024, capitalizing on a surge in freight rates caused by the Red Sea crisis. However, congestion near Singapore caused delays, impacting the planned calls at Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, and Long Beach.
According to Linerlytica, as of today, MSC's new standalone east-west service deployment is fully operational, but the Mustang service remains without allocated vessels. MSC's official website and the liner database EconDB do not reference the latest attempt to resume Mustang service at the beginning of February. The 19,462 TEU vessel MSC Eloane, previously designated for the Mustang route, is currently deployed on MSC's Jaguar China-US West Coast service.
MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) is a global container shipping company, headquartered in Switzerland, and is recognized as one of the world's largest container shipping lines.