The company noted that the new service will commence on August 23rd and will call at Haifa and Ashdod on fixed day

This is the largest passenger ship ever to visit Israel. MSC Israel president: There is hope that the company will add Israel to its regular sailing schedule

Transit time from Israel to Novorossiysk will be 4 – 5 days and the company will operate 2 dedicated feeder vessels

The cooperation which began in January 2009 was arranged in order to serve the Israeli agricultural season which officially ended at the end of June

The company will use the port of Felixstowe instead of Le Havre as transshipment hub for north European ports

The pirates tried to board the vessel but were deterred when Israeli security guards on board the ship opened fire at the pirates

The service which will employ 13 TEU 6,000 capacity vessels will call at Ashdod port as the first port of call after crossing the Suez Canal

The mega container ship is named after CEO Edni Simkin of MSC Israel's daughter Danit. The container ship is capable of loading 14,000 standard 20-foot container