Alan Peat FROM THE first voyage at the beginning of November, Delmas Shipping will be appearing in a new guise on the South African scene, according to Terry Harding of the general agents, Century Ships Agencies. After a visit to the principals in France, Harding and fellow director Hans Heer have returned to SA with an agreement in principle for the new service. This will see the Delmas line entering the Far East/SA conventional trade, extending the current monthly Far East/West Africa service (launched in January) to include a Durban call. "The Delmas Asia/SA (ASAF) November vessel will load breakbulk cargoes from Chiba/Yokohama/Kobe and Korea to Durban and other Far Eastern or SA ports From page 1 on inducement," Harding told FTW. Backing Century in Johannesburg as the main local general agents, Saxon Shipping will be the sub-agents in Durban handling the ships in port, and CenturyÕs network of agencies in the Far East will act as cargo booking agents. "Our main objective is to handle breakbulk cargo exclusively on the Far East-Durban leg of the overall voyage," said Harding. The return voyage is not yet on the cards but might be considered in the future, Harding added. "The majority of our base cargoes will be the likes of earth moving equipment, steel coils, general cargo and project cargo," Harding said. "Our main offering here is that Ð with each of the vessels on single voyage charters from the Far East to its West African off-hire Ð we can match the vessel type to the cargo needs," Harding said.
