New Big Whites support growing Europe reefer trade

Safmarine Nomazwe celebrates her maiden call JOY ORLEK London IT WAS an event worthy of celebration - the maiden call of the Safmarine Nomazwe at her home port of London this month. And Safmarine pulled out all the stops to record its slice of history with flair as it ushered in a new era on the Europe- Southern Africa route. The six-vessel fleet has been purpose-built for the SA - Europe Container Service (SAECS), offering significantly increased capacity. Most importantly the vessels are equipped with additional plugs capable of accepting integral reefer containers, replacing the current blown air (Conair) system. The new 3700 TEU, post-panamax Safmarine Nomazwe takes her name from the South African Xhosa word meaning ‘bearer of many nations’ and will be joined by her sister ship to be named next month. The Lars Maersk, which has already entered service, the P&O Nedlloyd Livingstone and Heemskerck, and Dal Kalahari complete the fleet. “Refrigerated capacity on the weekly, named-day Europe-South Africa service has been at a premium for some time,” Alex de Bruyn, Safmarine’s Africa line executive and CEO SAF-DAL told FTW in London last week. “The increased refrigerated capacity of the new Big Whites will not only meet the immediate needs of our expanding customer base, but is a clear indication of our long-term aim to grow the trade in partnership with them.” De Bruyn recalled with fondness a similar celebration 26 years ago when Safmarine celebrated the maiden call of the SA Helderberg - then the first of the line’s Big Whites to join the South Africa - Britain and northwestern Europe service at the Southampton Container Terminal. “As one of the first lines to ship reefer containers from South Africa to Europe, Safmarine has been involved in the export of temperature-sensitive produce since the company’s formation in 1946. This industry remains one of our key focus areas,” he said. Safmarine had also been the first of the SAECS member lines to take delivery, in 1992, of reefer containers which were technologically superior to the older fruit and reefer boxes, he added. “With our partners DAL and our parent company, we have continued to invest in even more advanced technology to meet the growing demands of reefer shippers.” The existing Big Whites will join the Far East-South Africa (Safari) service after undergoing a refurbishment programme, adapting their capacity to trade requirements. All four vessels are expected to be part of the revised Safari service by the end of April 2005.