THE RECENT article regarding the SAECS Intermediate service requires some correction, most importantly since it has been misrepresented as a joint venture between DAL and Safmarine.
This is not the case, the service is a full second string service provided for jointly by all the lines in the SAECS consortium namely, DAL, Maersk-Sealand, P&O Nedlloyd and Safmarine. The service was primarily set up for the Daimler-Chrysler project hence the direct calls at East London, Bremerhaven and Portbury in Europe, in which all three SAECS marketing organisations participate and have invested considerable resources to do so.
For structural reasons the service is made up of three chartered vessels each from P&O Nedlloyd and DAL comprising a six vessel weekly service to cater for the needs of this very important customer. It should be noted however that the service was also designed to cater for the growing needs of the South African fruit industry by providing a mid-week departure from Cape Town, as well as a further weekly departure from Port Elizabeth, to complement the existing weekly SAECS core service. Of course direct calls at East London also provide an excellent connection for this market, which had hitherto been served by feeder connections to and from Europe.
Calls at the Canary Islands southbound and Algeciras northbound provide the SAECS lines and their customers with additional opportunities to and from Med destinations.
Iain McIntosh, marketing manager, P&O Nedlloyd,
Cape Town.
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