By Luis Alonso
San Antonio Terminal Internacional (STI) welcomed the inaugural call of the container ship MSC Serena, a newly built vessel that joined the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) fleet in early October of this year.
This is the third time this ship has marked the same milestone in Chile – it already did so in Arica and Iquique – and it is expected to repeat it at least two more times, particularly in the port facilities of Valparaíso and Coronel, according to their respective shipping schedules.
The arrival of the MSC Serena is part of its route within the Alpaca service, operated by the Switzerland-based shipping company and announced in July 2025. It directly connects Asia with the Peruvian port of Callao and the Chilean ports of Arica, Iquique, and San Antonio.
The service was recently officially inaugurated in Peru and aims to compete with Chancay and its loop with Shanghai, China, according to Gonzalo Santillana, general manager of Mediterranean Shipping Company in Peru.
Regarding the operation of the MSC Serena in the San Antonio port facility, the ship – registered under the Liberian flag – berthed at Site No. 1 operated by the concessionaire STI. It will perform 800 container moves, all corresponding to loadings, according to the shipping schedule indicated by the Empresa Portuaria San Antonio (EPSA).
The vessel has a capacity of 11,480 TEU and is propelled by conventional liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel. It is 335 meters long, 45.6 meters wide (18 container rows), has a deadweight of 135 thousand tons, and a draft of 15.5 meters.
