Far East service changes kick in

Maersk Line, and its sister line Safmarine, as part of their tie-up with CMA CGM, have made a number of changes to the Far East- Southern Africa (Safari) and Far East-Mozambique (M-Express) services, designed, said Maersk, to enhance the products. On Safari, effective from April 24 ex Shanghai, Cape Town was removed from the port rotation, and is to be added to the FW3 (Far East-West Africa) service effective from May 7 ex Tanjung Pelepas. In the vessel-sharing agreement with CMA CGM on the Safari service, the French-based line will contribute one vessel, and take a 12.5% weekly share of the service’s capacity into Durban and Port Elizabeth. “The changes to our Safari service will allow us to provide an improved product offering to our customers,” Matthew J Conroy, APM Group trade manager for southern Africa, told FTW. “Cape Town will now be the only port of call on the SA coast from the Far East on the FW3 Service. This will allow our Cape Town customers to avoid any disruptions that may occur as a result of the refurbishments in the Port of Durban expected later in the year. “At the same time, the Safari service now offers an improved eastbound service for SA exports, leading to a reduction in transit times of approximately seven days.” Conroy also announced the upgrading of the M-Express service. “It now offers direct access into Malaysia,” he said. The two lines will enter into a vessel-sharing agreement with CMA CGM and offer a direct service into South East Asia, with Mozambique cargo no longer transhipped via Port Louis on the route. As part of the vesselsharing agreement, the lines’ current M-Express service fleet will be expanded from four 1 700- TEU capacity vessels to seven 2 100-TEU capacity vessels. With the planned departure of the Safmarine Nimba 1206 on May 8 from Tanjung Pelepas, the new port rotation will be: Port Kelang-Tanjung Pelepas- Reunion-Toamasina- Maputo-Beira-Nacala-Port Louis-Tanjung Pelepas. “M-Express will therefore offer a direct service for Tanjung Pelepas- Mozambique-Tanjung Pelepas cargo,” Conroy said, “leading to a more stable and reliable product.”