Global container shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has announced a new European-Red Sea-Middle East express service connecting key European ports to Saudi Arabia and other regional hubs.
The announcement came as companies in global supply chains responded to growing demand and increased disruption in Middle Eastern trade routes as a result of the US-Iran conflict.
MSC said its new service will offer faster, more efficient, multimodal alternatives in an increasingly volatile maritime environment.
Ships sailing from the Baltic Sea ’ to Europe’ will be directly connected via the Suez Canal to Jordan’'s Aqaba’, Saudi Arabia’'s King Abdullah Port’na and Jeddah’.
The company said in a statement that all European-origin ships from the “NWC-Scan Baltic ’ to the Western Mediterranean Adriatic and Eastern Mediterranean Black Sea ’ will be served through the MSC’nin capillary service network.
King Abdullah Port’ to Gulf’ to other hubs in the ’, in particular the United Arab Emiratesne, will be provided with connections via land transport.
The first ship in this service is scheduled to depart Antwerp’ on May 10.
MSC’'s decision to implement this new route bypasses the need to cross the Strait of Hormuz’, which has been effectively restricted by Iran’'s measures and increasing military tensions, including US’.
Located between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, this critical maritime corridor has become an important point of disagreement in negotiations between Tehran and Washington seeking a solution to the conflict.
