The Port of Philadelphia (PhilaPort) has welcomed the maiden call of MSC’s Scan Baltic service.
On 14 April, the container ship M/V Cornelia docked at the port as part of the weekly service which provides US shippers with direct connections to Bremerhaven, Germany, Gothenburg, Sweden, and Lithuania.
The full port rotation is as follows: Klaipeda (Lithuania) – Gdynia (Poland) – Goteborg (Sweden) – Bremerhaven (Germany) – New York (US) – Philadelphia (US) – Norfolk (US) – Klaipeda.
Transit time from Klaipeda to New York will take 15 days and Goteborg to New York will require 11 days, with no transshipment required between load and discharge ports.
“A weekly Baltic call fits perfectly into our portfolio of services,” said Jeff Theobald, Executive Director & CEO of PhilaPort.
“MSC is the largest container shipping company is the world. It is also the #1 carrier in The Port of Philadelphia. Cargoes to and from Germany are important. However, we are also excited that Scan Baltic gives us access to all the other Baltic countries for cargoes such as forest products and seafood.”
Sean Mahoney, Director of Marketing at PhilaPort, added: “We are very thankful that we have additional capacity.
“Fortunately for us, we are adding space and equipment, which will allow many more services to call at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal.”
In February this year, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that PhilaPort would receive a $246 million state investment to continue its modernisation efforts.
This sum builds upon his previous £300 million Capital Investment Program announced in 2016.
