Hamburg Süd moves into West Africa

In line with the carrier’s global

strategy to expand its route

network into new trade lanes,

Hamburg Süd recently launched

a weekly service between east

coast South America, South

Africa and West Africa

– specifically Angola

and the Republic of the

Congo.

Durban-based general

manager Jose Jardim

told FTW that it was part

and parcel of the line’s

ambitious plans to grow its

sub-Saharan Africa business.

“Hamburg Süd is one

of the top 10

shipping lines in the world. It is very

strong on the South America trade

and we’re one of the top players on

the north-south routes. We entered

the east-west trades last year and

have expanded globally as part of

our strategy to grow in trades

where we are not currently

present,” said Jardim.

The line’s services

between South Africa

and South America

and South Africa and

the Far East are well

established. The new

service offers a fixedday

weekly sailing via

South Africa to Angola

with fortnightly calls at

Pointe Noire.

It is jointly operated with CMA

CGM and NileDutch, deploying six

3 500-TEU vessels. Two are supplied

by Hamburg Süd, three by CMA

CGM and one by NileDutch.

The decline in trade between

Angola and South America as a

result of the oil price had a severe

impact on volumes

moving on the

route and brought

into question

the viability of

the service, said

Jardim.

“Our entry

enabled the

existing partners

to continue

servicing the

Congo from South

America and it

gave us the opportunity to move into

the West Africa market – a win-win

situation for all involved.”

Hamburg Süd will be focusing

its immediate attention on growing

cargo volumes to Luanda and Pointe

Noire. Nigeria, Benin and Togo – as

well as East Africa – are however on

the long-term radar.

The timeline would depend on

market growth, said Jardim. “The

drop in commodity and oil prices

has hit the majority of countries in

West and East Africa hard because

70-80% of the economy is driven by

commodities.

“But we believe it’s a temporary

slump and with a growing middle

class we’ll see

sustainable growth

going forward

– although it

possibly won’t be

in the 8-10% range

of the past.”

According to

Jardim, there’s

been a positive

response to the

service so far.

“Competition is

always good and

shippers now have an alternative to

the established players on the route.”

The trade imbalance continues

to pose one of the biggest problems

for shipping lines. And while some

commodities can be exported in

containers, unless the economies

begin exporting manufactured

goods, the problem will not be going

away any time soon.

INSERT & CAPTION

Hamburg Süd will be

focusing its immediate

attention on growing

cargo volumes to Luanda

and Pointe Noire.

– Jose Jardim