NEXT YEAR will see a new multi-purpose shipping service take to the waters between SA and the East Coast of Africa with Malaysian line Brooklands Maritime Services putting two
9 000 ton deadweight ships on the trade.
They are modern tween-deckers, according to Captain Brian Hawkins of Sea Diamond Maritime - local general agents for the service - self-geared with 25-ton and 35-t derricks, and a capacity for 175 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units).
From mid-January, these two vessels (first of which is MV Tamdhu) will establish a regular three-weekly service, calling at a port rotation of Durban, Beira, Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and return with other ports, like Maputo and Nacala, on inducement.
This is the initial schedule, Hawkins told FTW. But we hope the line will expand its offerings in the region, and put on more vessels.
The main cargoes on the run, he added, are likely to be steel, fertiliser, project and containerised, with most of the traffic northbound.
The general agency, meantime, is a joint venture between Hawkins' Diamond Shipping and Sea Master Maritime, part of Peter Storm's Harbour Group logistics operation.
The agents appointed for Mombasa and Dar es Salaam are Diamond Shipping subsidiaries.
Line manager for Brooklands Maritime Services is Durban-based Lesley Donnelly.
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