MOL alters Asia/Africa service arrangements

MOL alters Asia/Africa service arrangements    Japanese liner carrier MOL on Thursday said it is overhauling its services between Asia, West Africa, South Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
   MOL said it is changing its service offering between Asia and West Africa in two ways:
   ' Suspending a direct service, the West Africa Super Express service (WA1), and replacing it with one that calls at more Indian Ocean Islands and African ports.
   ' It will feed West African ports from Europe, connecting from two Asia/Europe mainline services that use the Suez Canal.
   The WA1, which connects Singapore with south and west Africa by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, will be suspended, and will be replaced by the new Indian Ocean Islands, South Africa, West Africa dedicated container service (ISW). ISW calls at all of the ports the WA1 did and also adds stops at Reunion (France), Walvis Bay (Namibia), and Lobito (Angola), ports not covered by the existing WA1.
   West Africa will further be served by two new feeders from Europe.
   'For the Asia/West Africa trade via Suez, MOL will have two feeder loops between Europe and West Africa, one of which is dedicated for Lagos, which suffers heavy port congestion,' the carrier said in a statement. 'The other feeder service will newly cover Dakar (Senegal) and Cotonou (Benin), two major ports in West Africa. MOL will use the China/Europe service (SCX) as the trunk line connecting to the Europe/Lagos feeder via Zeebrugge. For the Europe/West Africa feeder, MOL will use the Japan/China/Europe service (JEX) as the trunk line connecting at Tangier.'
   Both the Europe/West Africa feeders are offered twice monthly, with the Senegal/Benin feeder beginning June 2 and the Lagos feeder starting June 6. The ISW service is offered every 10 days beginning May 8.
   The new services have the following port rotations:
   ' The Europe/Lagos feeder (ARN), Zeebrugge, Felixstowe, Abidjan, Lagos and Zeebrugge.
   ' Europe/West Africa feeder (ARS), Tangier, Lisbon, Dakar, Abidjan, Tema, Cotonou, Lome and Tangier.
   ' Indian Ocean Islands, South Africa, West Africa dedicated container service (ISW), Singapore, Port Louis, Reunion, Tamatave, Maputo, Durban, Cape Town, Walvis Bay, Abidjan, Tema, Lome, Lobito, Durban and Singapore.