Belgian container shipping line Safmarine says it will improve its Asia to East African network with the March introduction of a new direct, fully containerised service along the route.
The new service will be known as the Mashariki Express, and will offer improved transit times and reliability by replacing the existing Mombasa Express service. The word Mashariki means ‘east' in Swahili.
The new service will be launched on 2 March with the sailing of the Safmarine Zambezi from Mombasa in Kenya to Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia, the company said in a press release.
"The Mashariki Express offers a number of benefits to both importers and exporters," said Safmarine's Eastern Africa manager John Lim.
"Benefits to importers include shorter transit from the Far East to Mombasa (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), with preferred berthing in both Mombasa and Tanjung Pelepas.
"Exporters, in turn, benefit from the weekly calls from both Mombasa and Dar es Salaam to Tanjung Pelepas, and improved schedule reliability."
Mr Lim also said that a buffer had been included to accommodate possible berthing delays, and that six vessels would be used in the new weekly service.
Transit time from Tanjung Pelepas to Mombasa is 13 days, while Dar es Salaam to Tanjung Pelepas takes 21 days.
