New service links South America and Middle East
Alan Peat
A NEW container liner service linking South America and the Middle East - and hubbing through South Africa - is due to set sail mid-January.
SAMBA (Southern Africa Middle East Brazil Argentina) is to have a four vessel fleet of 1 000 TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) ships, each with a reefer (refrigerated container) capacity of 200 units. Three will belong to operators, Maersk Sealand, and one to slot-charter partners, Safmarine.
This follows the withdrawal of P&O Nedlloyd from the SA-Far East Safari service and its promise to open its own service in April, with an extension to South America. At the time of this announcement, Maersk and Safmarine both suggested that they too would be extending an SA-South America leg to their current services.
The bi-weekly, fixed-day service will follow a port rotation of Salalah (Oman)-Port Reunion-Port Louis-Toamasina (Madagascar)-Durban-Santos-Paranagua-Itajal-Rio Grande-Montevideo-Cape Town-Port Elizabeth-Durban-Salalah.
The SAMBA service, said Peter Ehrenreich, m.d. of Maersk SA, will cater for the growing trade between the east coast of South America, SA and the Middle East.
It will also provide a fixed-day, weekly service to the Indian Ocean Islands via the dedicated Salalah hub in Oman.
Both East and West Africa as well as the Southern African region will benefit from the new service utilising SA as a hub.
The service will also hub into the other regional and global services already offered to SA shippers by Safmarine and Maersk Sealand.
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