COSCO RE-ROUTES CHINA/W AFRICA CARGO VIA MEDITERRANEAN

COSCO RE-ROUTES CHINA/W AFRICA CARGO VIA MEDITERRANEAN    COSCO Container Lines is withdrawing its fortnightly feeder link between South Africa and West Africa and will now re-route all its cargo for West Africa from Asia via the Mediterranean.
   A senior COSCO spokesman in South Africa said that the carrier needed all its available space in the Asia/South Africa joint service it operates with Evergreen for South African cargo from China.
   COSCO currently contributes two of the 10 ships in the joint Asia/South Africa/South America service in exchange for 480 TEUs of slots on each of Evergreen’s eight vessels, he said.
   The joint service began in May 1999 following a severe drop in cargo volumes, he said.
   Previously COSCO had operated 11 vessels entirely on its own, and needs to negotiate a larger share when the agreement with Evergreen runs out in May this year, he said.
   Using Genoa as its hub, COSCO is switching the West African cargo to its Asia/Mediterranean trade ships from China, which have more room than the ships to South Africa, he said.
   There is also more room available in the pair of 700-TEU vessels which COSCO operates from Genoa, Marseilles and Barcelona to and from West Africa, he said