The first Hapag-Lloyd vessel on the new MIAX service will arrive in South Africa in the first week of November, the shipping line announced last week. Part of a bigger expansion plan into Africa, the new weekly service will connect the Middle East, India, South Africa and West Africa. Speaking in Cape Town last week, Samad Osman, HapagLloyd managing director for sub-Saharan Africa, said the service offered the fastest transit time in the market between India and Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa. Tim Phillips, managing director for Hapag-Lloyd in Ghana, said the new service would open South Africa to West Africa while increasing the shipping line’s service coverage to the region. With a transit of just over a week between Cape Town and the Port of Tema in Ghana, it was good news for increased exports from the Western Cape to West Africa, a region that had been identified as a growth hub, said Cornelis van der Waal, chief research officer at Wesgro. According to Captain Dheeraj Bhatia, senior managing director for HapagLloyd in the Middle East, Africa along with the Midde East were selected markets for further growth. Osman said the shipping line had first entered the African market 12 years ago and had since seen a steady and significant growth in transported volumes – currently calling 17 ports with 11 services on the continent. “Through this new service we are integrating Africa even more closely to our global network,” said Phillips. The first vessel on the service departs Jebel Ali in the Middle East in early October for Mundra. It will call Nhava Sheva, Colombo, La Reunion, Durban, Cape Town Tema and Lagos. The return trip will see vessels call at Cape Town, Durban and Jebel Ali.