NileDutch set to grow and expand West African footprint

est Africa has become one of the most viable regions for companies wanting to expand and grow their operations in Africa. According to Sharmeni Varathaiah, head of sales for NileDutch in Johannesburg, Africa has always been a part of the company’s DNA but there is a major focus on growing and expanding its West African footprint at present. “We have grown our services into Angola – now shipping weekly container loads of cargo from Europe, South America, China and South Africa into Angola – as well as the DRC, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo and Gabon.” The company has also decided to increase its West African reach by introducing new services into Equatorial Guinea, with dedicated feeder services from Point Noire. “This offers our customers in this region the best in transit times and efficiency. At the same time our focus remains on improving our current services into West Africa, while we are also starting to look at prospects in the East African market.” Varathaiah said it was all about innovating services, increasing sailing frequencies and investing in new vessels. “NileDutch recently purchased 500 brand new reefer containers and the container f leet reached 100 000 TEUs, a major milestone for the company,” she said. Commenting on West African operations, Varathaiah said the region came with its own challenges of which congestion and delays at several of the ports remained the biggest. “Not only does it affect sailing schedules, it also adds significantly to costs.” But, said Varathaiah, geared vessels ensured they were always working even when ports were not. “Getting into some of the river ports with shallow draughts is one of the challenges we regularly face.” She said that while Luanda port congestion had increased, NileDutch was not affected as it could berth at 5M terminal. Finding ways of overcoming these challenges is the secret to success in the West African market, she added, where quick transit times and minimal costs remain the objective of NileDutch. INSERT & CAPTION Congestion and delays at several of the ports remain the biggest challenges – Sharmeni Varathaiah