Doing the Samba in West Africa

Two vessels join the fleet THE DEPARTURE of the Maersk Valparaiso on March 3 marked the start of an extended Samba service which now includes a South Africa to West Africa leg to be known as the South - West Africa Express. The weekly service, operated by Maersk Sealand with sister company Safmarine slot chartering, calls South America, South Africa, Middle East, Indian Ocean Islands, South Africa and now proceeds to West Africa with the following port rotation: Durban, Cape Town, Luanda, Cotonou, Apapa, TinCan Island, Abidjan before continuing to South America with direct calls in Montevideo Rio Grande, Itajai, Paranagua, Santos where it begins its journey again to South Africa and the Middle East. Two 1 250 teu vessels have been added to the fleet which now comprises ten. Maersk Sealand managing director in South Africa, Peter H. Ehrenreich, commented: “We can now provide a direct and fast transport solution from Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town into the West African markets and are doing it at a time when other shipping lines are pulling out or downscaling.” He said that many perishable commodities from the Western Cape would benefit from this enhanced product which had been welcomed by the fruit industry. “The enhanced Samba service further improves our growing intra-Africa network and offers schedule integrity to our multi-trade customers shipping between the Far East, Middle East, South America and West Africa,” said Alex de Bruyn, Africa line manager for Safmarine.