The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) entered into a vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) with ZIM, the organization’s second in seven days. The arrangement means ZIM will now act as a provider of vessels for MSC’s North Europe-Mediterranean Israel Express Service. Prior to the announcement of the VSA, ZIM said it would be suspending its Asia-Australia CAX service starting in October.
The agreement will involve five vessels of 6,700 TEUs, with MSC managing three of those ships, according to Logistics Insider.
Following the second VSA announcement, the rotation for MSC’s Israel Express Service has been updated to cover the following route: London Gateway to Rotterdam to Hamburg to Antwerp to Le Havre to Ashdod to Haifa to Damietta to Valencia and then back to London Gateway.
An official confirmation of the VSA has not yet been announced by ZIM.
The collaboration comes at a time when ZIM has been re-vamping its ocean liner network after the company reported a net loss of $213 million during Q2 2023. ZIM also projected that its full-year EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) losses could be up to $500 million.
