African shipping specialist Safmarine has announced the launch of a new direct service between the Far East, the Arabian Gulf and the Horn of Africa, boasting direct sailings to the ports of Djibouti and Port Sudan.
The fully containerised shipping service, Safmarine's first direct route between these locations, is set to be introduced at the end of June this year.
'These two ports are currently served via transhipment via either Salalah or Jeddah and direct calls will allow us to improve the service we offer to our customers by providing a more reliable, on-time product,' said Safmarine's Africa trade director Dirk Greens.
The introduction of the new service further strengthens the group's focus as a regional specialist in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, according to group liner executive Jan Scheck.
'These emerging markets are regions Safmarine knows well,' Mr Scheck noted. 'Not only have we been serving them for many decades – both with container and with breakbulk services – but we continue to upgrade our product portfolio in order to better serve these regions. The introduction of the Horn of Africa service is yet another example of our commitment to serving these growing markets.'
Safmarine noted that capacity is not expected to increase as a result of the introduction of the service, which will be jointly operated with Maersk Line.
The port rotation for the service will be Tanjung Pelepas, Jebel Ali, Djibouti, Jeddah, Port Sudan, Djibouti, Tanjung Pelepas, and will be served by vessels with a nominal capacity of approximately 2,900 TEU.
