London Gateway has announced the launch of MSC’s Australia Express service at the deep water container port, operated by Middle East port operations giant DP World.
The container ship MSC Roberta made her inaugural port call at London Gateway this week, marking the official commencement of the weekly service that will provide direct calls between DP World London Gateway Port, King Abdullah port in Saudi Arabia, Colombo in Sri Lanka and ports around the Australian coast.
MSC will now be able to offer the fastest direct service between Northern Europe and Australia in the market. The new rotation is as follows:
London Gateway (UK) – Antwerp (Belgium) – Le Havre – Fos-Sur-Mer (France) – La Spezia – Naples – Gioia Tauro (Italy) – Port Louis (Mauritius) – Pointe des Galets (Réunion) – Sydney – Melbourne – Adelaide – Fremantle (Australia) – Colombo (Sri Lanka) – King Abdullah (Saudi Arabia) – Valencia (Spain) – London Gateway.
“This service improvement will complement our competitive transit times to all other global destinations, using MSC’s vast transhipment network of services,” said Kelvin Wilden, operations director, MSC UK.
“We already have a good working relationship with the DP World London Gateway team and this new service further enhances the extensive choice of ports that we offer to both our import and export customers,” he added.
London Gateway is one of the great port development success stories of the year, with facilities designed from the ground up to provide fast turnaround with the option of using virgin bespoke distribution facilities mere yards from the quays themselves.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman, DP World, said that the move by MSC underscored the compelling nature of DP World’s London Gateway for the global and British shipping market.
“With excellent road, rail and sea access just 25 miles from central London, the use of cutting-edge port technology is both streamlining and bringing previously unmatched integrity and reliability to UK supply chains,” he said.
