French line maintains commitment to West Africa traffic

ALTHOUGH several other
shipping lines have failed to
stay the course, CMA-CGM has
maintained its long-standing
commitment to shippers on the
Durban-West Africa trade, and
still provides a full-scale service
with three sailings a month on
the northbound route.
Run as a joint service between
CMA-CGM and its subsidiary
Delmas Line – which itself has
been an historic participant in
the Africa sea trade – the Afex
service sails a port rotation of
Durban-Tema, Ghana-Lagos
(calling at both Tincan Island and
Atapa terminals), Nigeria; Lome,
Toga and Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Every second sailing, the service
has a northbound call at Lobito
in Angola.
“We have remained
committed to this West African
service, which has seen partaking
lines coming and going,” said
Pam Yerushalmy, GM of CMACGM
Shipping Agencies in SA.
The bulk of the traffic the
Afex service handles Yerushalmy
described as “the traditional
broad spread of general cargo”
which the Durban-West Africa
trade generates.
“But,” she added, “there’s a
great deal of telecommunications
equipment going into West Africa
at the moment.”
The majority of the business
is split between Nigeria – the
powerhouse of West Africa – and
the fast-emerging economy
of Ghana. Although trade with
Angola is growing, Yerushalmy
feels that the calls at Lobito are
still limited in their potential.