MSC Suspends Novorossiysk Bookings After Drone Strike on Boxship
MSC Ulsan III was hit after departing the Russian port bound for Turkey
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has suspended new bookings to and from Russia's Novorossiysk port with immediate effect after one of its vessels was attacked by a drone.
The containership MSC Ulsan III was struck while on passage from Novorossiysk to Turkey on 25 August. There were no reports of injuries and the ship continued on its voyage.
The carrier has stopped its operations through Novorossiysk until regular services can safely resume, and has advised customers to contact its Russian representative office to explore alternative routings for import and export shipments. It continues to operate through other Russian ports, including St Petersburg.
The withdrawal of the world's largest container carrier from a port is a commercially significant step, and one that liner operators avoid where the risk can be managed through routing, timing or insurance. Suspending bookings rather than simply omitting calls indicates the exposure is being treated as open-ended rather than as a temporary schedule disruption.
Novorossiysk is Russia's principal Black Sea gateway, handling crude oil, grain and containerised cargo. Container volumes there are modest relative to the port's bulk trades, but the service provides one of the few remaining direct deep-sea container links to southern Russia.
The strike forms part of a wider escalation against commercial shipping in the Black Sea, in which both Russia and Ukraine have targeted vessels and port infrastructure through the summer. Russian grain terminals at the port have been affected, with exports shifted towards the smaller facility at Tuapse.
For cargo owners the practical effect is a further narrowing of options for moving containerised freight into and out of the region, with remaining volumes pushed towards overland routings or towards St Petersburg on the Baltic.
