GENEVA's Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has rocked the industry with its announcement of a new stand-alone Ipanema service between Asia and the east coast of South America because it is clearly just the tip of the iceberg, says Drewry Maritime Research.

MSC has no intention of being left behind in the race to acquire greater economies of scale between Asia and east coast South America. By launching its own Ipanema service, it has thrown down the gauntlet to other carriers, many of whom also have expansion in mind despite poor trading prospects, according to the London-based analysts.

It is hard to imagine that the world's second largest carrier, which very much believes in economies of scale, would be content to replace its current slot charter arrangement on CSAV/CMA CGM/CSCL's SEAS 1/ASAX 1 service that uses 6,350 TEU ships with owned vessels offering just 2,000 TEU nominal capacity, they said.

The implication is that its new Ipanema schedule is a trial of a much bigger service to come. Hamburg Sud's new series of ten 7,100-TEU wide-beam reefer friendly ships, some of them are now deployed between Asia and ECSA, have set the benchmark in the tradelane, and MSC will not want to be left behind for long, the report said.

MSC has a series of at least six 8,800-TEU wide-beam ships due for delivery this year, and can easily charter other 8,000 TEU ships to take the place of the existing fleet. Should these not be available, a vessel sharing arrangement is always possible. In the interim, there are already indications that the planned 2,000 TEU vessels are to be quickly replaced by chartered vessels of around 4,500 TEU, Drewry said.

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