PORTS in South Africa and Mauritius will dock their largest containership ever when the 11,660-TEU MSC Sola soon arrives at Port Louis, Durban and Ngqura, north of Port Elizabeth.

From China and Singapore, the ship is deployed on MSC's Cheetah service, which connects ports in the Far East to South Africa on a string that is part of the carrier's wide ranging Far East-South Africa-Europe Pendulum service, reports Alphaliner.

The MSC Sola turns after calling at the deepwater Ngqura terminal near Port Elizabeth on the east coast and returns to Asia.

Thus far, ports in South Africa and Mauritius have handled vessels of up to 9,200 TEU, which have also been operated by MSC on its Far East-South Africa-Europe Pendulum.

The MSC Sola is part of a series of four ships of the same size and designed to run on the shipping line's Far East-Mediterranean/Europe routes since her delivery in 2008.

The MSC Sola's three sister ships were also used on this trade route, but have been now assigned to transpacific services. Likewise, the MSC Sola had previously been operated on the Asia-Europe Lion Service and was replaced recently by the far larger 13,092-TEU MSC Renee.