Ray Smuts TALK IS tight in shipping these days, more so when newshounds go sniffing about, but Maersk Sealand's Peter Ehrenreich has indeed confirmed that the line will offer a weekly frequency on its service between South American ports via South Africa to the Middle East from January next year. Maersk Sealand has kept mum on this new development, so Ehrenreich's comment came only after FTW drew attention to the fact that it was hardly classified from a media and shipping perspective. Ehrenreich, m.d. of Maersk Sealand in South Africa, told FTW the upgraded service, from bi-monthly to weekly, would focus on markets from Brazil and Argentina to South Africa and the Middle East as well as from South Africa to the Middle East, simultaneously securing a south- bound product to the Indian Ocean Islands via the dedicated Salalah hub in Oman. Ports to be served weekly are Salalah/Port Reunion/ Port Louis/ Toamasina/ Durban/Cape Town/ Montevideo/Rio Grande/Itajai/ Paranagua/Santos/Cape Town/Port Elizabeth/ Durban and once again Salalah. The upgraded service will employ eight fully containerised entirely Maersk Sealand run and operated vessels - capacity 1,700 TEUs - capable of carrying up to 250 reefer containers. Says Ehrenreich: "This will offer customers a wider choice and a more direct Maersk Sealand combination by way of a wide geographic scope, complementing the already extensive service network offered by Maersk Sealand." Sister company Safmarine is a slot charter partner on the service.
