From Wednesday, MSC — the world’s largest container shipping company — will include Port Chalmers as a stop on its shipping route linking New Zealand and China via Australia.
Port Otago customer general manager Craig Usher said the news was "big" and represented new export and import capacity for Otago and Southland.
"It takes a long time to get the stars to align, to get a service to come in."
Port Chalmers’ inclusion in MSC’s Asia-Oceania network meant Dunedin would now have a direct flow of products to and from North Asia, Mr Usher said.
Port Otago previously had access to a CMA CGM-operated service, which was withdrawn in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"They basically ran out of vessels and had to rejig networks.
"We had one here for about 10 years, hence getting it back is going to be great."
Customers valued having options and the ability to "pick a few things off the shelf if you can".
"It’s great. You want to have these things for customers."
For the past two years, MSC serviced Port Chalmers via a trans-ship service to Tauranga, utilising its Oceania 2 loop service.
Wellington’s port would now act as a hub for MSC, containers transferring on to MSC’s new "Eagle" services to the Americas and Europe.
Mr Usher said Port Chalmers’ inclusion in the New Zealand-China route, called the "Wallaby" service, would definitely add capacity to the Otago and Southland network.
"But also the new capacity MSC has brought in with that Eagle service out of Wellington, that means they've almost doubled their capacity in the region on those two services."
Port Otago already had direct-product access to Australia, Southeast Asia — with other carriers — and the Americas, he said.
Federated Farmers Otago president Luke Kane said it was hard not to see the news as anything other than a positive.
"If it's giving Otago and southern farmers more access to market more directly, then bloody hard to find a bad thing about it, right?"
Any faster access to markets of those types would be welcomed, he said.
MSC said it could not respond to a request for comment before deadline.
