MSC transfers Ingwe Service hub operations from Colombo to Hambantota

GENEVA : (MSC) Mediterranean Shipping Company is replacing Colombo with Hambantota as its northbound Sri Lankan hub call on the Far East–South Africa Ingwe Service, adding a twelfth vessel to the rotation in the same move.

The expanded fleet will range from 5,500 teu to 12,000 teu, with the revised rotation connecting Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen (Shekou), Singapore, Port Louis, Ngqura, Durban, Port Louis, Hambantota, Hong Kong and Tianjin before returning to Qingdao. The port substitution elevates Hambantota’s role within MSC’s regional transshipment network on the Asia–South Africa trade lane, a corridor where the carrier has steadily expanded capacity in recent years.

Hambantota, developed with Chinese investment and operated under a long-term concession by China Merchants Port Holdings, has been seeking to displace Colombo as the preferred transshipment gateway for international carriers calling Sri Lanka.