MSC European Line evacuation!
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world's largest container shipping company, has recently made major changes to the deployment strategy of its very large container ships (19,200-24,300TEU class).
According to the latest report of shipping consultancy Alphaliner, MSC has quietly shifted its ultra-large fleet originally deployed on the Far East-Northern Europe route to the Far East-Mediterranean and Asia-West Africa routes, while replacing the main ship type of the Asia-Northern Europe route with a smaller average capacity of "neo-Panamax" vessels. The change was described by Alphaliner as a "surprise" move, and sparked intense industry concern.
Since its exit from the 2M alliance in early February 2025, MSC has undergone a comprehensive restructuring of its Asia-Northern Europe network. Previously, the four separate routes operated by the company on this route, including "Albatros", "Lion", "Swan" and "Britannia", were dominated by 24,000 TEU class very large vessels. However, according to MSC's latest shipping schedule, MSC has withdrawn all its very large ships from the Northern European routes and deployed them instead on the more profitable Mediterranean and West African routes. On the Far East-Northern Europe route, MSC will commit 17 vessels of 13,000-16,616 TEU, bringing the average capacity per vessel down to around 14,700 TEU.
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At the same time, MSC is rapidly filling the withdrawn 24,000 TEU class fleet into highly profitable routes. On the Mediterranean route, MSC increased the deployment of very large vessels and increased the average capacity per vessel. For example, the "Jade" Western Mediterranean route will have an average capacity of 23,550 TEU per ship, making it the largest average fleet in the Mediterranean region by far. At the same time, the "Dragon" route (expected to be upgraded in mid-March) and the "Tiger" Eastern Mediterranean route have also increased the deployment of very large vessels, respectively, and the average capacity has been significantly improved.
In addition, MSC has for the first time put 24,000 TEU class vessels on the "Africa Express" route. The first vessel, MSC DILETTA (23,782 TEU), departed Tianjin on February 27 and will stop at several Asian ports before heading to West Fitma and Lome. Subsequent voyages will also be met by a number of very large ships, These include MSC TURKIYE (24,346 TEU), MSC TESSA (24,116 TEU) and the currently announced MSC Samar, MSC Gemma, MSC Michel Capplini and MSC Claude Girardet and MSC China. This adjustment will significantly improve the efficiency of the Asia-West Africa route and further consolidate MSC's leading position in the African market. After a decade of infrastructure upgrades, West African ports such as Lome and Tema have acquired the capacity to receive and unload very large vessels, which will provide strong support for MSC's capacity upgrade.
Alphaliner analysis pointed out that this adjustment of MSC is closely related to the collapse of freight rates on Asia-Northern Europe routes. According to data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, spot freight rates on the Shanghai-Northern Europe route had fallen to $1,578 per TEU by the third week of February, a 44 percent plunge since the beginning of the year. In the same period, the Shanghai-West Africa route remained at a high of $4,000 /TEU, and the Mediterranean route reached $2,624 /TEU. Therefore, MSC hopes to ease the pressure on the spot market by reducing the capacity scale of the Northern European route.
As the world's first super carrier to operate independently from the alliance, MSC's adjustment once again highlights its dual advantages of "fleet size + network resilience". Alphaliner stressed that the capacity redeployment of MSC is highly dynamic, and if Northern European freight rates recover or demand changes on other routes, very large vessels may be re-routed to the Asia-Northern Europe route. This flexibility allows MSC to quickly adjust capacity deployment in response to market changes to maximize profits.
This latest adjustment of MSC has had a profound impact on both Asia-Europe and West Africa routes. On Asia-Europe routes, capacity downgrades could slow the downward trend in spot rates, but could also trigger other alliances to follow suit. On the West African route, the normalization of very large ships will accelerate regional port competition, and modern terminals are expected to benefit.
In addition, MSC's ability to respond quickly may also prompt other competitors to re-evaluate the feasibility of operating independently, with profound implications for the overall shipping market landscape.
Alphaliner said that because MSC now operates independently of the alliance, it is able to respond more quickly to changes in supply, demand and rates. However, the agency also added that this independence does not mean that the transfer of capacity within the MSC network is permanent. In fact, depending on changes in the rate environment, MSC may have the flexibility to reallocate very large vessels to other routes, including but not limited to European, Mediterranean, Middle East and even trans-Pacific routes, if rates and volume conditions permit.
