April 9th, 2026 – Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) is scaling back West Coast port calls on one of its trans-Pacific services while also adjusting its Asian port rotations, aiming to strengthen schedule reliability and deliver more consistent service.
The carrier announced that its Orient service from China will no longer include a stop in Oakland, with the change taking effect starting with the April 30th departure of the 8,827-TEU MSC Naomi from Qingdao. The adjustment is intended to reduce exposure to port congestion risks, which in turn should support more reliable schedules and improve on-time arrivals.
This move comes against the backdrop of shifting trade volumes. In 2025, Oakland experienced an 8.6% decline in imports from China, closely mirroring the overall 8.1% drop in inbound Chinese volumes across all West Coast ports, according to PIERS data from S&P Global.
In addition to removing Oakland, the Orient service—now limited to MSC’s Long Beach terminal as its only West Coast call—has also effectively discontinued regular calls to Portland, Oregon. Although Portland had appeared in earlier service rotations, MSC has only called the port intermittently since the pandemic, with its last post-Panamax vessel call occurring in May 2025, according to Sea-web.
At the same time, MSC is expanding its Southeast Asia coverage by adding Haiphong, Vietnam, as a regular port of call on its Sentosa service, which connects Southeast Asia to Long Beach and Oakland. This marks MSC’s first direct service from Haiphong to Long Beach, beginning with the April 16th departure of the 16,616-TEU MSC Lorenza. The new routing is expected to deliver faster transit times while improving overall port coverage within a more stable network structure.
However, Haiphong will be removed from MSC’s Chinook service serving the Pacific Northwest. The revised Chinook rotation—effective with the April 13th departure of the 10,114-TEU Express Athens from Vung Tau—will instead include Vung Tau, major Chinese ports, and Busan in South Korea. Eliminating the Haiphong call is expected to provide additional schedule buffer for Pacific Northwest shippers in the event of delays.
The decision also reflects broader regional demand trends. Imports from Southeast Asia into the Pacific Northwest grew by only 3% last year, significantly lagging behind the 19.6% growth seen across all West Coast ports. Weak demand has already impacted services in the region, with third-party logistics provider UWL recently discontinuing its express service from northern Vietnam to the Pacific Northwest due to insufficient volume.
