Although the past year has been an extremely difficult one for the shipping industry as a whole, Macs (Maritime Carrier Shipping) has remained optimistic and has used the time to build on its solid foundation, according to breakbulk manager Lars Greiner. While remaining general agents for Galborg’s GAL service between Southern Africa and the USA, he told FTW that the line had used this base to extend the network into East Africa and Angola – with transhipment services at Durban and Walvis Bay, and each hub serving its own respective coastal region. “The new services see GAL vessels bringing cargo from the US to the hub port,” Greiner added. “The cargo is on-carried by smaller feeder vessels after direct transhipment.” The east coast trade, as far north as Mombasa in Kenya, is served by Macs’ East Africa service, deploying two multipurpose feeder ships with heavy-lift capacity up to 90-tonnes. Into Angola, the line has set up a slotting agreement with the well-established Angolana Navigacia (Anna), which is represented in SA through Angola South Lines. It also employs multipurpose feeders with heavy-lift capability. On the GAL run itself, Greiner is confident that the relationship between Macs and Galborg remains strong – with Macs having been the general managing agents for the service for all of its 12 years of operation. “The service has changed somewhat over the years,” said Greiner. “While this year saw a reduction in the fleet size from six to four ships for a period of time – due to reduced volumes – this has already been reversed with a further vessel joining the service at the end of the year, bringing the number to five again.” Greiner noted that the fleet had also dramatically changed over the year, when the service said goodbye to the original vessels – the Silverfjord, Blue Master and Viborg. These are all being replaced by younger vessels with better crane capacities, with charter vessels filling the spots until the new vessels come into service. “All this has been done at a very low period in terms of volumes moving,” Greiner said. “And, although there is light at the end of the tunnel, it is still a long way off. “But we believe that now is the time to position ourselves for this return, continuing to offer the customeroriented support for which the company has become synonymous.”
