As part of a constant reassessment of capacity needs in these uncertain times, the SA Europe Container Service (Saecs) will make some temporary deployment changes to its service from May. This is in addition to the 9th vessel already added to the service.
“The changes are necessary to provide a stable, weekly product from South Africa to Europe thereby addressing some of the supply chain challenges that arise from delays and operational challenges within our terminals as well as cater for the increased demand driven by a strong fruit season for 2020,” a spokesman said.
The Port Elizabeth northbound call will be removed and will be covered by the WAF1 service, which will call Algeciras directly from Port Elizabeth.
All cargo destined for the Mediterranean as well as all ports covered today by transhipment in Algeciras to other areas in Europe will be shipped directly to Algeciras on the WAF1 service from Port Elizabeth to meet the respective feeder services as is the case today on Saecs.
All cargo destined for North Europe ex Port Elizabeth will be loaded onboard the WAF1 service to Algeciras and loaded onboard the same Saecs vessel that week for oncarriage to Northern Europe. This will have minimal impact on transit time, according to the spokesman.