• Asia-Europe network seasonal blanking programme extended
• Suspended Dragon service and Swan service not reinstated until further notice
• New hybrid fortnightly Griffin service to satisfy small, gradual recovery in cargo volume

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company would like to inform you that as part of our ongoing prudent response to the decline in demand amid COVID-19, the seasonal blanking programme on our Asia–Europe network – which started in April – will be extended during the summer period. 

Two MSC services – Dragon (Asia-Mediterranean) and Swan (Asia-North Europe) – will not be reinstated until further notice. 

However, in order to accommodate the small, gradual recovery in cargo volume at this stage, MSC is pleased to announce the introduction of the Griffin service, operated as a single hybrid fortnightly service spanning a combination of Asia-Mediterranean and Asia-North Europe port calls.

The Griffin service is scheduled to start in the second half of June with the following rotation:

Shanghai – Ningbo – Yantian – Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas – Port Said – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Singapore – Ningbo

The service is being deployed to ease ongoing supply chain disruption from the impact of COVID-19. However, it will only sail if demand is gradually growing.

We thank you for your cooperation in recent months during which we have worked tirelessly to provide contingency planning and alternative routing for shipments.

We continue to carefully monitor market demand for the future and will only deploy additional capacity if there is a sufficient rise in market demand to justify this.