TRIESTE – MSC is introducing a new shipping link between the Far East and the Adriatic, reshuffling its Mediterranean rotations with changes for Upper Adriatic ports.
The Swiss group, which controls Trieste Marine Terminal, will launch this week its new “Phoenix” service, a loop that will directly connect the Far East with Israel and the ports of the northern Adriatic. The first sailing is scheduled for today from Busan, operated by the 8,814-TEU MSC Mumbai VIII.
The service will run on a 16-week rotation, calling at Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shekou, Singapore, Haifa, Iskenderun, Trieste, Koper, Rijeka, Aliaga, before returning via Singapore to Busan. As Alphaliner explains, five ships are to be deployed, with capacities ranging from 8,100 to 9,800 TEU.
The rotation includes some ports already covered by other MSC services: Trieste was served by the “Dragon”, while Haifa was part of the Far East-East Med “Tiger”. With “Phoenix”, however, MSC is creating a direct link between Asia, Israel and the Adriatic, altering the structure of its network. The “Dragon”, which operated as a round-the-world service between the Far East, the Mediterranean and the US East Coast, will drop Trieste, limiting its Mediterranean presence to Gioia Tauro, La Spezia, Genoa and Sines. This means Trieste will lose its direct link with the United States.
The launch of “Phoenix”, Alphaliner notes, comes after an earlier attempt, which did not materialise, to start a similar service in 2025, following the end of MSC’s cooperation with Maersk in the 2M alliance. In an initial phase, MSC had served the Adriatic via transhipment in Malta, before reintroducing a direct call at Trieste within the “Dragon” service. Under the new setup, Upper Adriatic ports (and therefore not only Trieste) regain a direct connection with the Far East, in the context of a broader reorganisation of traffic flows between Asia and the Mediterranean.
