Africa shipping specialist Safmarine has announced the launch of its first direct, fully-containerised shipping service between the Far East, the Arabian Gulf and the Horn of Africa.

A feature of the new Horn of Africa Service will be direct sailings to the ports of Djibouti and Port Sudan.

According to Safmarine’s Africa Trade Director, Dirk Geens, “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.’

The introduction of the new service further strengthens Safmarine’s focus as a regional specialist in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Sub-Continent, says Safmarine Liner Executive, Jan Scheck.  “These emerging markets are regions Safmarine knows well. 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.”

Capacity is not expected to increase significantly with the introduction of the new Horn of Africa service, which will be jointly operated by Safmarine and Maersk Line. This is because the shipping lines will use the same service to cater for Far East/Middle East volumes.

Vessels with a nominal capacity of approximately 2,900 teu will be deployed on the Horn of Africa Service, which will have the following rotation: Tanjung Pelepas - Jebel Ali - Djibouti - Jeddah - Port Sudan - Djibouti - Tanjung Pelepas.

CMA CGM has added a new call in Durban, South Africa, to its West Africa Express (WAX) service linking Asia to West Africa.

Hapag-Lloyd has launched a new link between the Mediterranean and West Africa. 

Regional shipping line Safmarine has enhanced its Masiika Express service between the Arabian Persian Gulf and East Africa with the addition of a direct call at the UAE port of Sharjah. 

A Marine Evacuation System (MES), consisting of a slide or chute where passengers can evacuate straight into waiting life rafts, can often be found on modern high speed crafts and passenger ships, where weight, space and evacuation times must be kept to a minimum.