India-Far East service adds benefits for SA shippers

Safmarine’s new Chennai Express service – which links India and the Far East – will not only boost trade between these two regions, but will also open up opportunities for increased trade between southern Africa and South India, says South Africa trade director, Alex de Bruyn. “The service was introduced in September this year, calling Shanghai, YanTian, Tanjung Pelepas, Port Klang, Chennai (Madras) and Visakhapatnam before returning to Tanjung Pelepas and Shanghai. “Because both this new service and the existing Safari 1 and 3 services (between Southern Africa and the Far East) call at Tanjung Pelepas, Southern African exporters and importers are able to combine the Safari and Chennai Express services to gain faster and quicker access to and from the South Indian market,” he said. The Tanjung Pelepas call is also expected to open up opportunities and improved access for Indian and Southern African cargo into the Horn of Africa. The Horn of Africa service, introduced in July this year, currently calls Tanjung Pelepas, Jebel Ali, Dijoubouti, Jeddah and Port Sudan. “This service can be used to connect cargo from either India (on the Chennai Express service) or South Africa (on Safari) to Tanjung Pelepas and then into the ports in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.” The Middle East - South Africa trade is currently served by the weekly MESA service which calls Salalah, Jebel Ali, Bandar Abbas and JNPT (India).