Safmarine, Maersk to start SE-Asia/Mideast loop

Safmarine, Maersk to start SE-Asia/Mideast loop    Africa specialist shipping line Safmarine said Tuesday it will soon introduce its first direct, fully containerized service between the Far East, the Arabian Gulf and the Horn of Africa.
   The service will begin at the end of June and will be operated with an unspecified number of 2,900-TEU vessels on a rotation of Tanjung Pelepas, Jebel Ali, Djibouti, Jeddah, Port Sudan, Djibouti, and Tanjung Pelepas. It will be jointly operated by Safmarine and its parent line, Maersk Line.
   Safmarine said a key feature of the service is direct sailings to Djibouti and Port Sudan.
   'These two ports are served via transshipment 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 Dirk Geens Safmarine's Africa trade director.
   The line said it doesn't expect overall capacity in the trade to be affected by the new service 'because the shipping lines will use the same service to cater for Far East/Middle East volumes.' It added that further details on sailing schedules and vessel deployment would be released in the coming weeks.
   Safmarine, a subsidiary of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, takes slots on a number of Asia/Europe and Far East/Middle East services operated by Maersk.