Maersk, Safmarine drop South Africa calls from Samba loop

Maersk, Safmarine drop South Africa calls from Samba loop    Maersk Sealand and sister company Safmarine Container Lines have dropped calls from their weekly East Coast South America/South Africa/Middle East/Mediterranean/East Coast South America Samba service.
   The 1,835-TEU ship “Maersk Valparaiso” made the last calls at Cape Town and Port Elizabeth Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 respectively.
   The vessel “Orion” will start southbound calls at Nouakchott in Mauritania and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from Feb. 4 and Feb. 11 respectively.
   The Samba service uses eight ships of about 1,800 TEUs and will have a revised port rotation of: Rio de Janeiro; Santos; Itajai; Paranagua; Rio Grande; Jebel Ali, Dubai; Dammam; Algeciras; Nouakchott; and back to Rio de Janeiro.