Joint venture provides regular service into Angola

As Angola’s economy grows, there’s scope not only to bring in necessary industrial inputs and consumer goods but for exports as well. Of his own company’s experience, Lars Greiner of Maritime Carrier Shipping in Cape Town said: “We were mainly focused on mines. Macs brings cargo from Northwest Europe to Southern Africa, using the ports of Walvis Bay round to Maputo. But it is very much a balanced trade, in both directions. Shipments north include ores and manufactured products. “For us Angola is a very new area. We’re very excited by what we see as an opportunity,” Greiner said. Last month, the Macs-managed Gulf Africa Line (GAL), in operation for 11 years, began a joint venture with Angola South Line (ASL) providing a scheduled service from Texas and New Orleans to Walvis Bay, where cargo is transferred to the coaster feeder vessels of ASL for the final leg to Angola. “We were approached from the Angolan side to provide a service. They told us of the need for an additional carrier, particularly with the Angolan oil market growing, and we worked on the idea for about six months,” said Greiner. “It’s a good fit because there is a lot of synergy going on between us. Both our companies are focused on customer service,” he noted. The Macs and GAL ships are in the 25 000-35 000-metric tonne deadweight class, while the Anna vessels are in the 4 000-5 000-mt category. While the GAL/ASL service, dubbed the Angola Atlantic Line, concentrates on the needs of the oil industry, Macs continues to ship into the country “a shopping basket of goods. We do breakbulk, bulk and containers,” said Greiner. “It is a growing market. The country doesn’t seem to be badly affected by the worldwide economic climate. Angola certainly has quite a lot of potential,” he said.