The first brushstrokes have been painted in an ocean freight ‘renaissance’ that has shipping lines positively on the hop in search of new containers, but West Africa specialist NileDutch appears to have matters rather well sorted. Call it proactive planning if you will, for that is what the Rotterdamheadquartered line resorted to, to avoid a last-minute scramble for the mainly China-manufactured newly built boxes, as the first batch of fifty 40 foot high cube reefers arrived in Cape Town recently. (The new order is over and above the 300 reefer containers that were purchased over the past two years). NileDutch Cape Town branch manager, Kevin Moodly, tells FTW the boxes will be immediately allocated for shipments to West Africa. He added that the demand for more reefers was mainly due to the ease-up of the congestion in Angola. As a result more and more perishable cargoes are being converted back from road to seafreight, which gives shippers/ receivers a possible 40% saving on transport costs. NileDutch will however continue to on-hire additional reefer equipment when required. Cheryle Bosch, the national sales and market manager for NileDutch South Africa, confirmed the company's huge expansion programme on the Far East/African trade. New 2500 TEU vessels have been deployed on both the Sawa/Fewa and Swax trades. A Cape Town call has been added to the Fewa/ Sawa service. Loading from Far East and South Africa combined, with dedicated direct service from Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Durban, Cape Town, Pointe Noire, Luanda, Lobito and Namibe, the frequency on this service will be fortnightly. The carrier has also upgraded its Swax service from four to six ships, improving June sailing frequency from 17 to 12 days, at the same time adding Ningbo to the schedule. Vessels load from the Far East with the port rotation: Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Durban, Lome, Tema and Lagos, offering clients another shipping option.
