News / MSC switches two more Asia-Europe port calls from congested Antwerp

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MSC has decided to switch two more calls out of Antwerp on its Asia-North Europe services, as congestion continues to plague what is currently Europe’s largest box port.

“Congestion at its major hub port in North Europe – Antwerp – has prompted MSC to make some adjustments to its standalone Far East-North Europe network,”Alphaliner said in a research note today.

“The Far East-North Europe-Scandinavia Swan service has dropped its Antwerp eastbound call earlier this month and is now calling at Felixstowe instead,”

In addition to the Swan service – on which Premier Alliance partners ONE, HMM and Yang Ming charter slots – switch, Alphaliner also reported that the MSC would drop an inbound call at Antwerp on its standalone Asia-North Europe Britannia service.

However, an outbound call at the Belgian hub will be retained.

A Premium analysis of the port Antwerp-Bruges’ first half-year volume figures for 2025, which showed a 3.9% year-on-year increase to 6.71m teu, indicate that substantial amounts of shipping capacity has shifted during the course of this year, from Antwerp to nearby Zeebrugge – the two ports officially became one entity in mid-2022.

The additional capacity in Zeebrugge has largely come from the Ocean Alliance partners, particularly CMA GCM and Cosco.

The replacement of Antwerp with Felixstowe on the Swan service shows how MSC, which is locked in negotiations with Felixstowe owner Hutchison to buy its international port portfolio, could be preparing to operate Antwerp and Felixstowe in a North European dual-hub scenario, switching calls and capacity between the UK and Belgium as demand and port operations require.

At the Asian end of the Britannia service, it has made further tweaks recently, Alphaliner reported.

“Other changes include the addition of Nansha at the expense of Ningbo, and Colombo replacing Mundra.

“As the Britannia service will start serving Nansha, this Guangzhou call is removed from the schedule of MSC’s Far East-North Europe Lion service, which otherwise keeps its double Antwerp call,” the analyst said.