The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore has been added to an existing international container service with the Mediterranean Shipping Co. that will include port visits between Asia and the Panama Canal, as well as the U.S. and the Suez Canal. The MSC Santana service will now include port calls in Baltimore and Boston, as well as Da Chan Bay Port, in China.
The first sailing under the new schedule will leave the Port of Haiphong, in Vietnam, onboard the MSC Ellen on July 15.
This new service for the Port of Baltimore follows a recently announced new container service for Baltimore on ZIM Shipping Lines, as well as another service on MSC through the Indian Subcontinent and Mediterranean.
There is a need for utilization of more gateways such as Baltimore to land cargo in the United States. Import/export demand for containerized cargo has substantially increased during the past year. With that demand, port congestion is an all-time high. Baltimore is a prime gateway for goods heading to the ecommerce market and for cargo sent to the Midwest via rail.
Maryland’s Port has handled more than 50 “ad hoc” ship calls during the recovery stages of the pandemic, meaning vessels diverted to Baltimore that were not on a regularly scheduled service call.
“MSC is one of the top container shipping companies in the world and a great partner of ours,” said Maryland Port Administration-Port of Baltimore Executive Director William Doyle. “We love the around-the-world services with the Port of Baltimore in between the Asia-Panama Canal and U.S.-Suez Canal routes. With our infrastructure and incredible supply chain network, there’s no better port in the country right now for handling containers than Baltimore.”