New East-West route adds capacity out of Port Elizabeth

The new Foreshore team in Port Elizabeth. . . Anita Sakelliou, Johanette Smith, Terence Scheinberg and branch manager Stephen Bell. THE ARRIVAL of Foreshore Ships Agency in Port Elizabeth marks the introduction of a new weekly service between the Far East and the east coast of South America by Pacific International Lines (PIL). Starting the service was the MOL Niger, which called at Port Elizabeth early in September. Ships on the service will travel from Santos to Cape Town, to Port Elizabeth and then directly to Singapore. “The Port Elizabeth call gives importers and exporters based in Gauteng another opportunity to load and unload freight from South America, in addition to Cape Town,” says Foreshore Port Elizabeth branch manager Stephen Bell. Foreshore has guaranteed slots on the congested South American route. Transit time from Rio de Janeiro to Port Elizabeth will be 11 days, and 11 days from Port Elizabeth to Singapore. On the return leg, the ships will call on Durban before going directly to Santos. PIL says it introduced the service in response to the growing trade between South America and China. The service is being operated in partnership with Mitsui OSK Line (MOL), with a total of eleven 2 800 TEU ships. Bell says one of Foreshore’s strengths is that it can provide shipping services to the major Chinese river ports, in addition to the main shipping hubs in the East. “We are catering for niche markets such as wool, hides and skins, as well as reefer traffic, in addition to the other major cargo from the region. Our focus is on providing excellent service” he says.