MOL adds calls to South African port
Liner carrier MOL is restructuring a handful of services connecting Asia to South Africa.
The restructuring primarily involves switching out a westbound call at the port of Durban with a call at South Africa's newest deepwater port, Ngqura, on MOL's CSW service, which connects China, South Africa and several South America ports.
The service now calls at Ngqura in both directions, with a revised rotation of Xingang, Dalian, Qingdao, Busan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ngqura, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Paranagua, Sao Francisco Do Sul, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Ngqura, Singapore, Hong Kong and Xingang.
The service is operated with 12 MOL vessels (average size 3,824 TEUs), according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data.
Similarly, MOL is adding a second call at Ngqura to an intra-Africa service, the SWX, which now has a rotation of Durban, Ngqura, Cape Town, Walvis Bay, Abidjan, Tema, Lome, Cotonou, Douala, Ngqura and Durban.
MOL has also realigned its MZX service linking Singapore to Durban. The service was previously offered every 10 days but will now be offered weekly. The MZX will cut out previously included calls at the Indian Ocean island ports of Port Louis, Reunion and Tamatave, but will include a new call at Port Klang in Malaysia. The new rotation is Singapore, Durban, Maputo, Port Klang and Singapore.
To account for the ports deleted in the MZX restructuring, MOL will start a new service (IOX) between Singapore and the Indian Ocean islands ports, offered every two weeks, with a rotation of Singapore, Port Louis, Reunion, Tamatave and Singapore. A shuttle service between Ngqura and Angola (AOS) has also been added. The service will be offered every 21 days with a rotation of Ngqura, Luanda and Ngqura.
'We are the only Asian carrier that calls at the port of Ngqura as a hub port, which not only accommodates much larger ships but also is designed to offer efficient transship operation,' said T.K. Konishi, MOL liner division general manager. 'These features help MOL enhance its network, with Ngqura as a strategic hub port.'