Rebranded Unifeeder considers more sailings to Luanda

TERRY HUTSON SOUTH AFRICA’S longest established shipping line, previously known as Unifeeder, emerged as United Africa Container Lines (UACL) at an official re-branding function in Durban last week. The new company, a joint venture between the Grindrod Group (49%) and Safmarine Container Lines (51%), traces its lineage back as far as 1922 when the first vessel, SS Frontier, traded between Durban and East London. The company subsequently evolved though several transformations into the well-known Unicorn Lines trading the southern Africa coastal service. In 2002, following the merger, services were extended as far as Mombasa on the East Coast and Luanda on the West. UACL operates a fleet of medium-sized vessels suitable for the coastal service between Luanda and Mombasa. The West Coast Service offers weekly, named-day sailings between Durban and Luanda calling at all major ports in South Africa, Namibia and Angola. East Coast The East Coast service between Durban and Mombasa operates weekly, named-day sailings calling at all major ports in Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, with a regional logistics office based in Harare (Zimbabwe) attending to overborder transport requirements to and from the landlocked countries of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. In addition the smaller Mozambique ports of Pemba and Quelimane are serviced through Mozline, a Mozambican registered company in which UACL holds a 75% equity stake. Mozline also caters to cabotage requirements between all significant Mozambique ports. According to Captain Dave Rennie, UACL’s managing director, the line transports about 500 000 tonnes of domestic cargo annually between Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. He said the company was looking at increasing the frequency from Durban to Luanda on the West Coast, as well as services into the Indian Ocean Islands. “Our volume of feeder containers has grown more strongly than any other sector in the last 18 months. As well as increased support from the mainline operators we have been serving for many years, it is pleasing to see new players in the market on board our hulls. The common carrier aspect of our business is a cornerstone in our strategy.”