MSC to begin double-calls at Port of Norfolk

January 25, 2012

The Mediterranean Shipping Co. S.A. (MSC), one of the world's leading liner companies, plans next month to begin "double-calls" at the Port of Norfolk as part of its weekly Asia-U.S. sailing through the Suez Canal, the Virginia Port Authority, which operates the port, said today.

According to port officials, Geneva-based MSC will adjust its port rotation on the journey in order to call twice at Norfolk, the first time a shipping line has chosen the port for this type of service.

MSC's Golden Gate route currently uses the Suez Canal to link Hong Kong and China with New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, and Freeport in the Bahamas. However, under the adjusted port rotation, an MSC vessel will then return to Norfolk from Freeport, take on a full load there, and return to Asia via the Suez.

Joe Harris, a port spokesman, said Norfolk's 50-foot channel drafts, the deepest on the East Coast, were a key factor in MSC's decision to schedule a "double-call" at the Virginia port.

Transportation Maritime & Ocean

KEYWORDS Port of Norfolk - Virginia Port Authority

Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.

MSC to begin double-calls at Port of Norfolk

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