Safmarine, Maersk to upgrade South African services

Safmarine, Maersk to upgrade South African services    A.P. Moller-Maersk group carriers Maersk Line and Safmarine Container Lines are upgrading two of their joint services from South Africa to help improve schedule reliability.
   The North America/South Africa America Express Service (AMEX) will return to a fixed-day weekly pattern with an additional eighth ship.
   The revised port rotation for the AMEX service will come into effect at the end of November/early December and will be: Durban, Cape Town, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Freeport, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and back to Durban.
   Mediterranean Shipping Co. is a partner on the AMEX.
   The Middle East/South Africa (MESA) loop will next week add a fourth ship as well as direct calls at Port Elizabeth. The amended MESA rotation will be Durban, Port Elizabeth, Salalah, and Durban again.
   'The addition of an eighth vessel on the South Africa/North America service will restore schedule reliability, while the deployment of a fourth vessel on the current three-vessel MESA service will provide new opportunities for Eastern Cape exporters,' said Alex de Bruyn, Safmarine's South Africa trades executive.
   'The inclusion of a direct call at Port Elizabeth on the export leg is an important enhancement as the additional call will provide exporters —    particularly Eastern Cape fruit shippers — with a more reliable product on the growing trade between South Africa and the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent.'