“Trade to and from Africa, particularly West Africa, has grown considerably over the past decade,” says Safmarine’s Jonathan Horn. “For example, last year Ghana’s economy was predicted to be the world’s fastest growing and Nigeria has had an annual growth of 9% over the past 10 years, according to the International Monetary Fund.” Horn says Africa, along with the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, will continue to be core areas for Safmarine – and the investment by the AP Moller-Maersk Group in new, purpose-built, Safmarine-branded tonnage for this trade will support its profitable growth aspirations in this key market. The Group’s investment in new ships to serve the African market is a prudent one considering that in the next four years seven of the world’s fastest growing economies are likely to be in Africa, he added. Horn says growing trade relations between Far East Asia and West Africa is one outcome of the strong growth. A greater demand for reefer produce on this trade has also resulted in the new 4500-TEU Safmarine WAFMAX vessels – the Safmarine Chachai, Safmarine Chambal and SafmarineChilka – being equipped with increased reefer capacity. Each vessel has 150 plugs. In addition they have been custombuilt to overcome the current limitations of West African ports, namely relatively shallow draughts, length restrictions and a scarcity of standing cranes. The vessels are also 30% more energy efficient than the average vessel on the Asia–Africa trade and are expected to significantly reduce, amongst others, shipping inventory and congestion costs in West African ports by increasing port productivity and port turnaround times, according to a study cited in A P Moller-Maersk Group’s 2011 Sustainability Report.
