Safmarine adds 3rd string to Safari service

   Ocean carrier Safmarine is adding a direct link between Asia and Mozambique and the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar and Mauritius.

   Safmarine, a subsidiary of Maersk Line, is naming the new service Safari 3 and will use five 1,700-TEU vessels on a rotation of Tanjung Pelepas, Port Louis, Toamasina and Maputo. The new service launches Thursday.

   The new service “will complement Safmarine's existing service offering and market coverage of Southern Africa,” said Alex de Bruyn, Safmarine's South Africa trades executive. “Not only will it improve our direct coverage of the niche ports of Toamasina and Maputo to and from Asia, but it will also strengthen Safmarine's service into South Africa by taking the Indian Ocean islands out of the westbound rotation of the main Safari string where our customers require fast transit times.

   "The new string will also deliver market leading transit times to and from Mozambique and Madagascar; it will be particularly attractive to shippers wanting a faster and more reliable service between Maputo and the Indian Ocean islands. For example, the westbound transit time between Madagascar and Maputo is only four days.”

   In January, Safmarine reconfigured the first two loops of the Safari service into a main service calling Hong Kong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and a feeder linking Mauritius with the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Maersk's Southeast Asia hub.

   (Source: American Shippers)