Joint venture creates new Africa coastal service

Terry Hutson THE ANNOUNCEMENT of a joint venture between Unicorn Lines and Safmarine along the Southern African coastline goes to prove the old adage that "wherever there's smoke, expect a fire!" A month ago Unicorn was quick to pour cold water on rumours that its coastal service was to be acquired by the A.P. Moller Group (FTW May 10 2002). This week both Unicorn and Safmarine (part of the A.P. Moller Group) jointly confirmed that Safmarine had purchased "at least an equal share" of Unicorn's coastal service, and would operate a joint venture service with Unicorn, known as Unifeeder. Six chartered vessels will operate a liner service between Luanda in the west and Mombasa in the east. "Together we have more experience than any other company in providing customised shipping solutions in the African coastal liner trade lanes, as well as containerised intermodal operations to and from a significant number of landlocked countries in the region," said Jan Scheck, Safmarine's Africa Region executive and one of six new directors of Unifeeder. The other directors are Dave Rennie, To page 16 From page 1 chief executive of Unicorn Lines, who will head up the new operation from the Unicorn offices in Durban, Ivan Clark, MD of Grindrod Limited, Laurence Stuart-Hill of Grindrod Limited, and Charles Collins and Ivan Heesom Green of Safmarine. In a measure, aimed presumably at withholding which company has the bigger share, the chairman of the board of directors of Unifeeder is not being announced. Unicorn Lines, Safmarine and Maersk Sealand will continue to market their existing services as customers of Unifeeder. By extending the service to Dar es Salaam and Mombasa Unifeeder will be able to link with other Indian Ocean services operated by Safmarine and Maersk Sealand. The joint venture is subject to final approval from the Competition Commission.