The Geneva-headquartered carrier announced yesterday: «Due to the anticipated slowdown in demand during and after the Golden Week holiday, MSC is planning to adjust capacity on its Asia to USA west coast network.»
The affected sailings are the Week 40 Orient service and Week 41 Pearl service, but MSC said customers could continue to place bookings, adding: «We are arranging contingency plans with alternative services.»
The Orient service links Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, and Long Beach, while the Pearl service operates between Yantian, Xiamen, and Long Beach.
As freight markets enter the traditional pre-Golden Week peak, forward indicators suggest US import demand could weaken from October.
Judah Levine, head of research at Freightos, told The Loadstar Podcast the National Retail Federation was forecasting US ocean import volumes to remain broadly flat in September, before declining in October.
«Usually, there’s a kind of increased demand just before Golden Week, the first week in October, and then some catching up for some just after,» he said.
However, Mr Levine warned that tariff-related front-loading could alter the normal seasonal pattern, with importers potentially having already built inventories, anticipating more tariff uncertainty.
This week, MSC also announced blanked sailings, on its Asia-Europe network, with affected voyages being Jade in Week 39, Swan and Britannia in Week 40, and the Lion in Week 41.
China’s National Golden Week this year will run from 1-7 October, with ‘make-up working days’ on 20 September and 10 October.
