From a backwater
trade – full of chronic
port congestion, small,
necessarily self-geared
ships and limited
investment in port
development – the West
Africa sea trade has
evolved rapidly into one of
the world’s fastest growing.
The French shipping
consultant, Alphaliner, has
revealed exciting indicators
of just what has been
happening on this trade in
the past five years.
In 2009 the vessels
trading from the Far East
to West Africa averaged
2 300 TEU capacity.
But by 2014 this had
increased to an average
of 3 800 TEUs. And, in
2011, Maersk was one of
the bigger-ship leaders,
with the introduction of
the first of its 22 purposebuilt,
four-crane, ‘WAFmax'
class vessels of 4 496
TEU capacity – the largest
geared containerships ever
built.
And Alphaliner pointed
out at the end of last
year that the size of the
largest containerships on
that FE-WAF route had
increased by 87% since
2009.
Also, from a minor
throughput of 170 000
TEUs in 2009, the total
capacity of containerships
sailing the FE-WAF trade
rocketed up almost 250%
to 590 000 TEUs last year.
A percentage that makes
the trade one of the fastestgrowing
sectors in the
container shipping market.
And that self-geared
necessity is almost no
more. New infrastructure
projects (many of them
by private sector port and
terminal operators) have
f looded into the WAF
ports. And this, over the
last couple of years, has
overcome that chronic
congestion for which they
were infamous.
So today at least 10
WAF ports are capable of
handling gearless ships
above 4 000 TEU capacity.
Said Alphaliner:
“Gearless ships currently
account for 50% of all
container vessels deployed
on the trade, compared to
only 8% in 2011.”
This trend to bigger,
gearless ships has thrown
a lifeline to the panamax
vessels that have cascaded
out of the larger trades.
Many of them were f loating
around with nowhere to go.
But the WAF trades have
led to the resurrection
of many such ships.
Alphaliner figures revealed
that 26 gearless panamax
units in the 4 000-4 600
TEU range are now
deployed on the FE-WAF
trade – a big jump up from
the four units in 2013.
And 25 gearless
overpanamax ships of
4 600-6 600 TEU capacity
have also appeared over the
past 12 months or so.
And this bigger-ship
trend is set to continue.
Recent infrastructure
development projects are
making room for even
more of those overpanamax
vessels.
Pointe Noire in the
Congo, Luanda in Angola
and Lome in Togo are all
now capable of handling
ships of more than 6 000
TEU capacity.
And the new Lome
Container Terminal (LCT)
is the star of the show.
Developed by MSC’s
subsidiary, Terminal
Investment Limited (TIL)
and China Merchant
Holdings (CMH), this
greenfield terminal is
capable of taking ships up
to 14 000 TEU capacity,
with a draught of 15.5
metres.
There are also two other
greenfield developments
which will add to the new
regional transhipment
capabilities on the West
African coastline.
Major investments are
planned by two shipping
companies. CMA CGM is
to develop the new port at
Lekki in Nigeria, while the
Maersk group’s terminal
operators, APM Terminals
(APMT), are aiming at
developing the port of
Badagry, also in Nigeria.
These new port
developments, according
to Alphaliner, could lead
to the introduction of
containerships of up to
9 000 TEUs by 2017.
Changed days indeed since
2010, when geared ships in
the 1 500-3 000 TEU range
were the backbone of the
West Africa trade – and still
more is to come.
CAPTION
Pointe Noire is now capable of handling
ships of more than 6000 TEU capacity.
