Safmarine and Hapag-Lloyd launch new services

Safmarine will launch a new, direct, Far East – West Africa containerised shipping service, via South Africa, on August 12th. The new FEW3 service will be operated jointly with Maersk Line.

According to Dirk Geens, Safmarine’s Africa Trade director, the purpose of this new service is to strengthen Safmarine’s existing portfolio of products – FEW 1 and FEW2 – calling West Africa directly from the Far East.

The new FEW3 service will significantly improve transit times to Pointe Noire (Congo) and Matadi (DRC) through a direct call to Pointe Noire.

It will also make a direct call at Tin Can Island in Nigeria. Consequently, Tin Can Island will be phased out from the FEW 1 port rotation (date to be advised), in order to deploy the full capacity of the FEW3 service to Lome (Togo) and Cotonou (Benin).

The FEW3 service’s call in Durban will also be used to offer additional space to Safmarine’s Southern Africa customers during the traditionally high volume peak months.

The number and size of vessels to be deployed on the FEW3 service has yet to be announced, but, subject to a variety of operational considerations, the port rotation is expected to be: Shanghai (China) > Yantian (China) > Nansha (China) Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia) > Durban (South Africa) > Pointe Noire (Congo) > Tin Can Island (Nigeria) > Durban (South Africa) > Shanghai (China).

FEW1 service port rotation (without Tin Can Island): Shanghai > Ningbo > Nansha > Hong Kong > Tanjung Pelepas > Lome > Cotonou.

FEW 2 service port rotation: Port Klang > Tanjung Pelepas > Walvis Bay > Abidjan > Tema > Apapa.

Hapag-Lloyd will launch a new Express Shuttle on the route between North Europe and the East Coast of North America on September 25th.

The Atlantic Express Shuttle will provide a weekly service directly between Antwerp and New York, with transit times of only nine days.

This shuttle is an enhancement to the existing GA services PAX and ATX, and will assist in meeting increasing customer demand.