Africa Service

Lykes Lines Upgrades Africa Service Fleet

The launching of Lykes Runner on August 29, rounds out the retonnaging of Lykes Lines' North America - Africa Service, East Coast Loop. This multi-purpose Astrakan Mark 3 RoRo ship joins four sisterships already on the service, operating every two weeks between Canada, the U.S. and South Africa - all of which can carry breakbulk, bulk and container traffic - including refrigerated cargo, automobiles and other rolling stock.

Hapag-Lloyd Inaugurates South Africa Service

Hapag-Lloyd, which has so far focused mainly on East-West services, is expanding its African network by starting a service to South Africa in mid-October. “The southern and west regions of Africa represent an attractive market for container transport with considerable development potential. We will thus be serving all five continents for the first time in our company’s history,” commented Adolf Adrion, executive board member of Hapag-Lloyd AG

OTAL’s North Africa Feeder Service Hailed a Success

OT Africa Line (OTAL), the specialist West African shipping line, has undergone service schedule restructuring as from mid June of this year: 80 percent of its African port range now sees OTAL call on a weekly basis. The implementation of the OTAL-managed weekly North Africa feeder service (NFD), for example, has already created marked improvements in terms of port congestion avoidance and improved sailing frequencies for customers.

Europe to Africa Route On Table

Hydro Air, a South African company, is mulling the possibility of launching a sea-air service between Europe and Africa in the longer term. Hydro Air, will launch its first-ever cargo service and first Africa-European air service in the first week of November with a Boeing 747-200 freighter. Hydro Air cargo's commercial director Louis van Deventer said the company was considering the possibility of a sea-air service in the future

OT Africa Line moves its operations in Antwerp

OT Africa Line is to move its operations in Antwerp from Hesse Noord Natie Terminal's Delwaide Dock (berth 702) to Churchill Dock South (berth 420) in order to increase efficiency and provide its customers with a range of additional benefits. The new berth, which will be used by OTAL and its sister company Delmas on an almost exclusive basis, is able to handle containers, RoRo, break bulk, project cargo and cars

Swire Oilfield Services Strengthens East African Presence

Swire Oilfield Services, a global supplier of cargo carrying solutions, modular systems, offshore aviation services and fluid management, is strengthening its newly established presence in Kenya, East Africa with the appointment of Dan Davies as the new commercial manager.   Dan will be responsible for the commercial activity across East Africa and further developing business in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar and the wider East African region.  

Y2K Worries Prompt Cargill To Avoid S. Africa

Cargill U.S.-based commodities giant Cargill Inc. has told South Africa it plans to avoid trading there from mid-December to mid-January because of worries over the country's preparations for the millennium bug, according to press reports. The group's South African subsidiary reportedly sent a letter to the Department of Agriculture in Pretoria, pointing to a "worst-case" assessment by a U.S. computer consultancy analyzing the risks of the bug.

Africa Mercy to be Launched

A global charity operating a growing fleet of hospital ships will soon launch its newest Africa Mercy ship, which is expected to double the number of medical beneficiaries than it is currently serving. Slated to go active in April off the Port of London, the former Danish rail ferry will be the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship as Texas-based Mercy Ships says goodbye to two veteran ships - Anastasis and the Caribbean Mercy

CMA CGM To Launch New Service

CMA CGM Group is pleased to announce the launching of a new service linking Asia, Indian Ocean Islands and South Africa, effective May 8th, 2011.   Called Shaka Express, this new weekly service will deploy 6 vessels between 4500 and 6500 TEU, and will allow CMA CGM to meet the growing market demand of South Africa, as over 30% of the country’s trade is with Asia.   The assets of this new service:   

Gulf Africa Line to Call Port of Jacksonville

Gulf Africa Line (GAL) will begin U.S. East Coast port calls in Jacksonville, effective with Blue Master voyage 0504 (northbound) and 1204 (southbound). "In our ongoing effort to create greater value for customers, we have identified significant opportunities in Jacksonville for a large portion of the range of cargoes we regularly carry," said David Groves, GAL Owner's Representative, located in Houston, TX. "In addition