MSC Deploys First 24,000 TEU Boxships to West Africa
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has become the first shipping company to deploy its mega ships to the African continent. The company made history in late April and early May when the service was inaugurated with two of the recently built 24,000 TEU class containerships arriving in the ports of Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, and Cameroon as part of the deployment on the African Express service.
Since the introduction of the latest segment of ultra large container vessels, carriers ranging from MSC, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd to Evergreen and OOCL have used the massive vessels for Asia to Europe routes. The ships were designed to maximize capacity around 24,000 TEU per vessel and with the maximum dimensions for a transit of the Suez Canal and the ports of Northern Europe.
MSC highlights that transferring two of these vessels for service to West Africa will help to reshape the economic development of the region. It is expected the service which connects China and South Korea to West Africa with port calls also in India will boost trade volumes both for imports and exports. MSC points to the surge in Asia – West Africa trade and customer demand. The company also highlights the service as part of its commitment to African economic development.
The expanded service kicked off with the MSC Diletta which reached West Africa in late April. Built in China in 2021, the vessel is 235,228 dwt. It is registered in Liberia and operates under a long-term lease from Chinese finance companies to MSC. It has a capacity of 23,964 TEU.
MSC Diletta made a call in Lomé, Togo, where MSC’s TIL division is a partner with China Merchants for the operation of the Lomé Container Terminal. This vessel also called in Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire.
She was followed by the MSC Turkiye which was also built in China and delivered to the company in 2023. It is one of the largest containerships in the world with a capacity of 24,346 TEU. The ship is registered in Liberia and 281,458 DWT.
Lomé port officials highlighted that while the port had handled calls for other large containerships this is the first regular deployment. In the past, the largest containerships deployed on routes to West Africa were in the 366-meter (1,200-foot) length while both of the MSC vessels are 400 meters (1,312 feet) in length.
Port officials highlighted the development of their facilities and the technical challenges of handling vessels each more than 100 feet longer than previous ships.
The Lomé Container Terminal is the largest container port in West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. It is also the fifth largest in Africa having handled approximately 1.7 million TEU last year.
With the growth in Africa, carriers have expanded their services with for example CMA CGM transferring in larger capacity vessels as it deployed its 24,000 TEU ships on the European routes. Both MSC and CMA CGM also made large investments in acquiring terminals and logistics operations in Africa in recent years.