CMA CGM to launch new Asia-SA service

In a move designed to strengthen its presence in South Africa, CMA CGM is set to introduce a new Asia-SA service next year in response to growing demand, executive officer Rodolphe Saadé told FTW in Durban last week. In South Africa on his first (but “definitely not his last”) visit, Saadé diarised March 2011 for the maiden voyage of the line’s first dedicated Asia-SA service. China will be the main player at the northern end of the trade, and there could be a call at the Indian Ocean Island of Reunion on the way south. “We have not yet finally decided which ports in SA we will use,” said Saadé. But CMA CGM has confirmed the vessels it will deploy, with Saadé committing to six vessels of 2 500-TEU capacity to service the trade route. The group is strongly committed to growing the CMA CGM and Delmas presence in SA and the region, added Lars Kastrup, group director for the European and African regions. Evidence of this, he said, was the launch of a new direct call in Durban on the weekly WAX service linking Asia and West Africa. There is also a direct call eastbound on the line’s weekly SEAS service linking Asia and the East Coast of South America (ECSA). “Also under study are further calls at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town for the weekly MIDAS service – which links India-Middle East Gulf-West Africa,” said Kastrup Saade also pointed out that the new deep-water Eastern Cape port of Ngqura, some 20 kilometres north-east of the established harbour at Port Elizabeth, is also being examined. “We will maybe use Ngqura as a transhipment hub for other CMA CGM services,” he said. Arnaud Thibault, regional director for the southern African countries at CMA CGM Shipping Agencies in Durban, noted that the group was also studying new developments for the SA-Middle East market. On a regional basis, the line – which is the third largest in the world – has opened offices in Walvis Bay in Namibia, in Beira, Nacala, Maputo in Mozambique, Blantyre and Lilongwe in Malawi and is in the process of opening offices in Zimbabwe and Zambia. “The reefer market in the region is also definitely the next study for further development,” Thibault added. The message from all of this, said Saadé: “It marks a major step forward in our presence in SA. “We have a very capable team here. They’ll give it every effort, and we’ll see how it goes.”