MSC suspends New Russian service after drone attack on container ship

The world's largest container carrier MSC suspended accepting new cargo reservations to and from New Russian. The decision was made after the drone attacked the container ship. MSC Ulsan III.

The incident occurred on August 25 in the eastern part of the Black Sea during a cruise from the Russian port to Tekirdag, Turkey. After the hit, the crew checked the ship's status. No injuries or pollution were reported, and container ship retained the ability to navigate and continued voyage towards Turkey.

MSC Ulsan III is approximately 215 m long and can carry around 2700 TEU. The unit was built in 2004 and flies the flag of Panama.

MSC suspends bookings for New Russian

After the incident, MSC informed customers about the immediate suspension of new cargo reservations led by Novorosyjsk. The weekly service is to remain suspended until safety conditions are improved.

The carrier recommends customers to contact the Russian representative to establish other transport options. This does not mean a complete withdrawal of MSC from the Russian market as the company still operates other ports, including Saint Petersburg.

However, the decision on New Russian is significant due to the scale of operations of the Swiss carrier. MSC remains the world's largest container line and its fleet is responsible for more than one fifth of the global capacity of container ships.

Attacks increasingly affect shipping

Hit MSC Ulsan III shows that the threat in the Black Sea already covers not only tankers and bulk carriers, but also ships operating regular container connections.

In recent weeks, attacks on ports, terminals and merchant ships have led to further restrictions on shipping. In July, for reasons of security, port calls to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea also limited Maersk And Hapag-Lloyd.

For shipowners, this means greater risk of operating in the region, higher insurance costs and the possibility of subsequent changes in the schedules of connections.

New Russian key for Russian exports

The importance of the current situation goes beyond container transport. New Russian is one of the most important Russian ports on the Black Sea and supports large volumes of oil, oil products and cereals.

Prior to that, attacks on port infrastructure caused disruption to the operation of the terminals there. The problems with access to ports concern the Ukrainian side at the same time, making it difficult to deal with a large part of maritime trade in the area.

The most sensitive remains export of cereals. Any limitation of terminal operation or reduction of the number of wraps can quickly translate into the availability of cargo and the cost of their transport.

The cereals market responds to problems in the Black Sea

Distortions in shipping coincided with a marked increase in the prices of wheat on the Chicago stock exchange, where the quotations have reached the highest level in several years. However, this cannot only be attributed to an MSC decision. The market also responds to attacks on ports and terminals and the risk of further restrictions on exports from Russia and Ukraine.

Suspension of new bookings by combat strike unmanned system However, the MSC container ship shows that the deteriorating safety situation is beginning to directly influence the decisions of the largest maritime carriers.