Exporters hit as MSC closes all backhaul bookings with immediate effect

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Shipping line MSC has suspended all eastbound bookings on the Europe/Middle East and Europe/Far East routes with immediate effect.

It will not accept any new bookings until 9 July because it says all vessels are full due to soaring export volumes of scrap metal and waste paper.

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SCM understands that shipping line Maersk has also announced major price increases for July.

MSC pushed up its prices by $500 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) for Asia to Europe routes in mid-June.

One exporter told SCM that he was sceptical that all of the MSC vessels were full, and that it was a way to raise the price of freight, as the shipping lines have been suffering losses on the routes from the Far East to Europe.