GENEVA's Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has revealed that it is joining a consortium of carriers, Hamburg Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk Line and ANL, to provide a service linking Oceania with US west coast ports.

A few weeks ago, MSC extended a slot charter agreement with some of these same carriers to provide service from Oceania to the US east coast.

MSC will market the new loop as Oceania Express 1 to rotate through Melbourne, Sydney, Tauranga, Oakland, Long Beach, Auckland and back to Melbourne.

The loop will deploy seven ships averaging 2,596 TEU, two from Hamburg Sud, two from CMA CGM's unit ANL and one from Hapag-Lloyd, though the source of the remaining two is yet to be settled, according to ComPair Data.

MSC's slots on the service will be offered from December 24. CMA CGM, Alianca, and US Lines, also a CMA CGM unit, will take slots as well.