SIMIC

THE Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has discontinued calls to the Mumbai ports of Nhava Sheva (JNPT) and Mundra on its Falcon service, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.
The revised weekly string will have new stops at Xingang, Busan and Xiamen, starting with a March 20 sailing from Xingang.
The carrier opened the independent connection between India, China, and the Middle East in early 2015 to capitalise on intra-Asia trade growth. The redesigned itinerary offers a dedicated intra-Asia connection for the Middle East region.
"To provide direct and streamlined access between Asia and the Middle East, MSC is revising the rotation of its Falcon service," the Geneva-based carrier said. Transit times will be 10 days from Singapore to Jebel Ali and 29 days from Xingang to Jebel Ali.
The revised full port rotation is Xingang, Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Shekou, Singapore, Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi, Hamad, Dammam, Umm Qasr, Abu Dhabi and back to Xingang.
MSC and other leading carriers serving Indian trades have been realigning their service networks and vessel deployments in a bid to match excess capacity with weaker demand.