# MSC Container Tracking

Source: https://contsize.com/msc-container-tracking/ · CC BY 4.0 · checked 2026-08-03

To track an MSC container, enter its number (e.g. MSCU 123456-7) at msc.com/en/track-a-shipment — the tracker takes container, [bill of lading](https://contsize.com/glossary/bill-of-lading/) or [booking numbers](https://contsize.com/glossary/booking-number/), but ignores links with the number attached, so paste it manually. MSC has been the world’s largest container line since January 2022, and its boxes carry eight registered prefixes: MSCU, MEDU, MSDU, MSMU, MSNU, MSPU, MSYU and GTIU. Bills of lading issued after April 2018 start with MEDU. Validate any number below before searching — one misread character is the most common reason MSC tracking returns nothing.

## Track a MSC container by number

MSC moves more boxes than anyone on earth, which makes “MSC container tracking” one of the most-searched phrases in shipping. The lookup itself is free and needs no account — what trips people up are the prefixes, the MEDU-vs-MSCU confusion, and a tracker that quietly refuses pre-filled links.

Everything on this page comes from data we verified against the BIC register and tested in a real browser. Start with the checker: it catches typos and confirms the box is actually MSC-registered before you go anywhere.

MSC containers carry the prefixes MSCU, MEDU, MSDU, MSMU, MSNU, MSPU, MSYU and GTIU; each is worked through, with its check digit and where the code came from, on the prefix page of [MSC](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/).

## MSC container prefixes: MSCU, MEDU and six more

Most MSC boxes stencil **MSCU**, but the fleet spans eight registered owner codes — including GTIU, which surprises people because it doesn’t spell anything MSC-like. All eight resolve to “MSC — Mediterranean Shipping Company” in the BIC register, and all eight track identically on msc.com.

If a box shows a different prefix but sails on an MSC vessel, it is almost certainly leased tonnage ([TRLU](https://contsize.com/triton-container-prefixes/#trlu), [TGHU](https://contsize.com/textainer-container-prefixes/#tghu) and similar) — the tracker still finds it by number, because MSC reports events for every container it operates, owned or not.

*MSC: verified container prefixes*

| Prefix | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| [`MSCU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#mscu) | A house code of MSC, registered to it directly. |
| [`MEDU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#medu) | A house code of MSC, registered to it directly. |
| [`MSDU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msdu) | A house code of MSC, registered to it directly. |
| [`MSMU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msmu) | A house code of MSC, registered to it directly. |
| [`MSNU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msnu) | A house code of MSC, registered to it directly. |
| [`MSPU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#mspu) | A house code of MSC, registered to it directly. |
| [`MSYU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msyu) | A house code of MSC, registered to it directly. |
| [`GTIU`](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#gtiu) | GTIU is often mislabelled as an independent leasing code, but the BIC register places it with MSC’s fleet. |

Data: [BIC Container Prefix Register](https://contsize.com/citations/#bic-register) · [ISO 6346 (1995 text, read in IS 6928:2001)](https://contsize.com/citations/#iso-6346)

![The 8 BIC owner codes registered to MSC — MSCU, MEDU, MSDU, MSMU, MSNU, MSPU, MSYU, GTIU — shown as door plates.](https://contsize.com/figures/msc-container-prefixes-en.png)

*MSC container prefixes, and a number that uses one*

## MSC B/L numbers: why they start with MEDU

MSC switched its bill-of-lading prefix from MSCU to **MEDU** in April 2018 — an official customer advisory, not a rumor. Documents from before the switch (and some regional legacy paperwork) still show MSCU, and the tracker accepts both. A booking reference is a separate, usually all-numeric string; the msc.com search takes any of the three from the same field.

## Using the msc.com tracker

We tested it directly: the MSC tracker **ignores URL parameters**, so no site can deep-link you to a result — anyone claiming to is just opening the empty search page. Copy the number from the checker here, paste it at msc.com, and use the “Notify me” button on the result to get e-mail updates instead of re-checking. The myMSC app (iOS/Android) shows the same feed with push notifications.

*What the official tracker accepts*

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Container number | ✓ yes |
| Bill of lading (B/L) | ✓ yes |
| Booking reference | ✓ yes |
| Mobile app | ✓ yes |
| Pre-filled link | — tried it: the page ignores a number in the link |
| Its bill of lading starts with | `MEDU` |

Browser-verified 2026-08-03

## Can you see where the ship is?

Not from the container. A standard dry box has no power, no radio and no satellite receiver — it is a steel case with a number painted on it, and it reports nothing about itself. Every position you see against a MSC shipment was reported by something else: a terminal crane, a gate reader, or the ship.

A live map on a carrier’s tracking page is almost always plotting [AIS](https://contsize.com/glossary/ais/), the transponder every large vessel broadcasts with its position, course and speed. That is genuinely useful at sea: it is a real position rather than a schedule, and an ETA recalculated from actual movement. It is also the ship’s position, not your box’s, and the two part company the moment the container is discharged.

On land the map goes quiet. Between the [gate-out](https://contsize.com/glossary/gate-out/) and the delivery there is no vessel to follow, and the road leg appears only as whatever events the terminal and the trucker report. A container sitting on a chassis in a yard shows the last position of a ship it left days ago. Only specialised IoT equipment reports its own location, and wherever that exists it is a paid product sold to the shipper, not something a tracking page gives away.

Data: [DCSA Track & Trace standard](https://contsize.com/citations/#dcsa)

## MSC sails alone, and that makes its tracking unusually clean

MSC is the only one of the three largest lines outside a vessel-sharing alliance: it left 2M in January 2025 and now operates its own network, with slot partnerships on individual trades rather than a standing alliance. For tracking, that is good news. On an alliance service your box routinely sails on a partner’s ship, so the vessel named in the feed belongs to a company you never booked with and the name means nothing to you. On most MSC services the ship is an MSC ship.

The exception worth knowing is the slot partnership — MSC and [ZIM](https://contsize.com/zim-container-tracking/) share space on Asia to US East Coast lanes, so a vessel name from the partner can still appear there. It does not change where you track: the shipment belongs to whoever issued your bill of lading, and if that document says MSC, msc.com is the tracker that has your events whatever hull the box is sitting on.

## When msc.com finds nothing, in order of likelihood

**The number is misread.** MSCU and MEDU are the two prefixes people mistype, usually by swapping the O and the 0 in the serial. Run the number through the checker here first — the check digit catches a single wrong character before you go anywhere.

**The box is too new.** MSC shows nothing for a container until its first event, the [gate-in](https://contsize.com/glossary/gate-in/) at the terminal or the loading. A booking made yesterday may have nothing to show yet, and re-searching will not change that.

**The box is leased.** Eight prefixes are MSC’s own, but MSC also carries a large leased fleet — TRLU, TGHU and similar. Those still track at msc.com, because the line reports events for every container it operates. If you searched the *lessor’s* site instead, that is the mistake: a leasing company has no shipment data.

**The trip is over.** Trackers archive shipments some weeks after delivery. A number lifted from old paperwork can be perfectly valid and still return nothing.

Carrier profile

## MSC at a glance

- **World fleet rank**: #1by capacity · Alphaliner, read 18 October 2026
- **Founded**: 197056 years in business
- **Container prefixes**: 8verified against the BIC register
- **Alliance**: Independentnot a member of Gemini, Ocean or Premier

### The company

- **Headquarters**: Geneva, Switzerland
- **Mobile app**: Yes, published by the line

### On your paperwork

- **Owner codes on the container door**: [MSCU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#mscu)[MEDU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#medu)[MSDU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msdu)[MSMU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msmu)[MSNU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msnu)[MSPU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#mspu)[MSYU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#msyu)[GTIU](https://contsize.com/msc-container-prefixes/#gtiu)The first four letters of the container number.
- **Bill of lading numbers start with**: MEDUMEDU is also one of its container prefixes, so check which number you are holding.
- **Official tracking site**: [msc.com](https://www.msc.com/en/track-a-shipment)Free, no account needed.

MSC overtook [Maersk](https://contsize.com/maersk-container-tracking/) as the world’s largest carrier on 5 January 2022 — built almost entirely by organic growth and a famous buying spree of second-hand ships. It left the 2M alliance in January 2025 and now sails alone, with slot partnerships (including one with ZIM on Asia–US East Coast lanes).

Data: [Alphaliner Top 100](https://contsize.com/citations/#alphaliner) · [BIC Container Prefix Register](https://contsize.com/citations/#bic-register)

Checked 2026-08-03

## Frequently asked questions

**Why does my MSC bill of lading start with MEDU, not MSCU?**

MSC changed its B/L prefix to MEDU in April 2018 by official advisory. MSCU remains the dominant container prefix and appears on older documents; the msc.com tracker accepts both forms.

**Is GTIU an MSC container?**

Yes — GTIU is one of MSC’s eight registered prefixes in the BIC register, despite not resembling the brand name. Validate any GTIU number in the checker here and it will resolve to MSC.

**Can I get a link that opens my MSC tracking result directly?**

No — msc.com strips URL parameters and always opens an empty search; we confirmed this in a real browser. Copy the number and paste it — or use the myMSC app, which remembers your shipments.

**Does MSC tracking need an account?**

No — the public tracker at msc.com/en/track-a-shipment is free and anonymous. An account (or the myMSC app) adds saved shipments and notifications, nothing more.

**Why does my MSC container show no events yet?**

Because MSC shows the first event only once the container is gated in at the terminal or loaded; until then a valid number returns nothing. A booking made yesterday may have nothing to display yet — that is normal, not an error.

**How do I track an MSC container that was transshipped?**

Track by B/L (MEDU…) rather than container number — the shipment-level view updates through hub ports more reliably, and MSC routes heavily through transshipment hubs like Gioia Tauro and King Abdullah Port.

## Related pages

- [Container trackingCheck the digit → name the owner → open the tracker](https://contsize.com/container-tracking/)
- [Maersk tracking](https://contsize.com/maersk-container-tracking/)
- [ZIM tracking](https://contsize.com/zim-container-tracking/)
- [ISO container standardsISO 668 · ISO 6346 · CSC](https://contsize.com/iso-container-standards/)
- [Carrier tracker study 2026Original research · tested in a browser · open data](https://contsize.com/container-tracker-study/)
- [Container glossaryThe vocabulary of the box](https://contsize.com/container-glossary/)