Ports of the Americas

Special Report

MSC revises Sentosa service with‘ megamax’ ship calls to Long Beach

By Bill Mongelluzzo

The September arrival of the first“ megamax” vessel deployed to the Port of Long Beach as part of a weekly liner service could usher in an era of regular calls by 23,000-TEU-plus ships in Southern California.

Mediterranean Shipping Co.’ s( MSC) revised Sentosa service from Southeast Asia and South China will also be notable because the vessels will completely discharge their inbound containers in Long Beach and reload with exports and empty containers for the backhaul without calling in Oakland. The norm for Pacific Southwest services is to call Los Angeles-Long Beach inbound, and then call Oakland before returning to Asia.

Long Beach and Total Terminals International( TTI), MSC’ s operating arm at the port, are coordinating efforts to ensure that container exchanges of as many as 35,000

TEUs per vessel call are handled seamlessly, said Noel Hacegaba, Port of Long Beach CEO.

“ We are coordinating closely with MSC, TTI and the railroads to ensure this volume increase will be accommodated without disruption,” he said.

The anticipated volume increase comes as dwell times for containers leaving marine terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach by rail and truck hit their highest in more than 15 months in July. This year through August, Long Beach had handled 3.1 million TEUs in imports from Asia, up 2.5 % from the same period a year earlier, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global.

Alphaliner at the end of August reported the changes that will take place in vessel sizes as MSC revises its weekly Sentosa and Pearl trans-Pacific services. The 23,656-TEU MSC NELA departed from Port Kelang, Malaysia, on Aug. 21 and arrived in Long Beach about a month later.

Five other 19,000- to 23,600-TEU vessels are scheduled to follow, plus another three vessels that have yet to be nominated and the smaller 14,036-TEU MSC Livorno that is already deployed, according to Alphaliner. The previous vessel sizes calling Long Beach in the Sentosa service ranged from 13,800 to 16,600 TEUs.

The 23,656-TEU MSC NELA was the first several megamax ships scheduled to call Long Beach( pictured). Robert V Schwemmer / Shutterstock. com

36 Journal of Commerce | October 5, 2026 www. joc. com