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WEST AFRIcA


French shipping giant to build ‘African Rotterdam’


The West African trades used to be all funny little ships with lifting gear sprouting from their decks because there was scarcely a single working container gantry from Dakar to Douala. But handling has been improved


out of all recognition and some quite respectable-sized ships now call in major ports. And they could get even bigger, if the giant of French container shipping has its way. CMA CGM, the largest


carrier to the region, since its acquisition of fellow French West Africa specialist Delmas in 2006, has signed a concession to develop São Tome island as a transhipment hub for an area including Ivory Coast and


Angola. The port will be able to handle containerships of 8500 to 9000 TEUs, an unprecedented size for the region and more than twice the maximum capacity of ships currently calling in the best equipped ports of the region.


Brussels Airlines Cargo is launching four more destinations in West Africa in July, following the addition of a fifth Airbus A330-300 to its fleet, with 10 tonnes of bellyhold capacity. There will be four flights a


week to and from Accra, Ghana via Monrovia, Liberia. It will also serve Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso with two weekly flights in combination with Abidjan, Ivory Coast, along with new twice


weekly operations to Cotonou, Benin and Lome. With the new routes, Brussels Airlines will serve 18 places in Africa. Head of cargo sales, Guy


Hardy, said business to West Africa had proven resilient despite the economic pressures around the world. The carrier was now the leading supplier of scheduled cargo services across West Africa. Brussels Airlines Cargo’s general sales agent,


European Cargo Services also has a close co-operation with its subsidiary, regional carrier Africa West Cargo.


The port is due to be operational in 2015. CMA CGM added that productivity in West African ports has improved due to better organisation of work and the privatisation of port operators. But even more investment is needed, especially in infrastructure such as gates, piers and dredging as well as in road and rail networks, along with improvements in customs and administrative procedures. Meanwhile CMA CGM has pursued a policy of adding new calls in secondary ports including Onne in Nigeria, Lobito and Namibe in Angola and Walvis Bay in Namibia to improve flexibility and market opportunities. Connections are available from all ports in the region to Europe, Asia, Middle East, India, South America and the US. Some frequencies have also


been increased to weekly, for example the Nigeria Express direct service to Europe. The Delmas Ro Ro service from North Europe to Africa has also been strengthened. CMA CGM operates a total of


33 services to and from Africa, including 24 Delmas services and it frequently adjusts capacity in line with demand. For example, ships were added to Angolan


ISSUE 2 2010


services in response to the strong market in early 2009 but towards end of the year, with volumes going down, these were redeployed elsewhere in West Africa. The import container market


in West Africa remained stable in 2009 compared to 2008 but exports fell by 15%, with a much sharper decline during the first three quarters of the year, followed by a return to growth in the last quarter of 2009. This has continued into 2010 but recovery in the African market is less marked than on the Asia-Europe trade for example. Forecasts are extremely difficult to make, adds the line. Economists are expecting a growth of 4-5% in the regional economy this year but in this part of the world, everything depends on the oil price. Meanwhile, the Engineering


News Record reported on 16 June that the start of construction work on the Lekki Port project, near Lagos in Nigeria, is unlikely to get underway until the latter part of the year, after the Nigerian government refused to fast-track the necessary legislation to allow work to begin in June. The $1billion scheme includes 1.5km of quay, and would have a capacity of over 2m teu a year, as well as liquid and dry bulk berths.


Brussels Airlines makes it 18 Conventional thinking


Escombe Lambert has been appointed liner agent for the Bremen Overseas Chartering and Shipping (BOCS) scheduled conventional shipping services between North Europe and West Africa, plus on- carriage services into Africa. Ports presently served southbound in Europe include Hamburg, Antwerp and Rouen and in


West Africa BOCS serves Ivory Coast, Togo, Cameroon, Benin, Senegal, Ghana, Congo and Gabon. Northbound, the service calls in Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Cameroon with European calls including Caen and Nordenham. Additional calls are available by inducement. New vessels are currently being built for the service, specifically designed for the African ports.


MOL better connected after UK port switch


Still plenty of air options


The suspension of MK Airlines’ services from Europe to West Africa in early April – due to the carrier’s financial problems – removes an option for airfreight customers but many others remain. MK operated a fleet of five 747 freighter aircraft to destinations in West Africa and elsewhere. The airline was headquartered in East Sussex, but its main operating base was at Ostend. It also flew out of Manston and Luxembourg, while its main West African hub was at Accra. The company had led a chequered


existence, having already once gone into administration and


stopped operations briefly in June 2008, and but starting up again in June 2009 after securing a refunding deal. Panalpina was a major source


of traffic for MK, although lately the forwarder had been barred from operating in one of its major markets, Nigeria, pending settlement of its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case in the US. Plenty of alternative full freighter carriers exist from Europe, including Avient, which now operates from Liege to Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano in Nigeria as well as other West African destinations. It currently operates a fleet of MD11F/DC10s.


A newly-delivered Avient MD11F was lost in a crash at Shanghai in November 2009. Air France also includes the


region in its full freighter schedules and there are also frequent passenger flights operated by BA, Virgin and others. One freight forwarder FBJ


spoke to said: “I can’t really believe that the disappearance of one operator is going to make that much of a difference. In fact, it could be beneficial in the long term because the remaining carriers should be strengthened by the removal of a competitor. It could help stabilise the market.”


Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has switched the UK call of its Africa Rainbow Northern Loop service from Felixstowe to Thamesport in order to improve connections with its services from Asia. General manager of MOL’s UK agency Adrian Jones said tweaks to the schedule to make a better connection with MOL’s Europe/Asia services via Tangier meant that Felixstowe could no longer offer a suitable berth window, and so the service was switched to Thamesport, also owned by Hutchison ports. MOL needed its Europe/West Africa service to connect with


its Asia/Europe service following the decision to suspend its Asia-West Africa direct route. Europe/West Africa is a relatively new market for MOL


in terms of its own tonnage. It started in April 2009 after a slot-share agreement with Delmas was ended because it was unprofitable. Three 2,100teu ships operate the fortnightly service calling


at Tangier, Abidjan, Tema and Lagos, then back to Abidjan for the northbound voyage. Transit times from Thamesport to Abidjan are as little as ten days. There is a second service calling on the continent only with calls in Africa including Tangier, Dakar, Abidjan, Tema, Lome and Cotonou, which could accept transhipment containers to destinations not served by the direct service from Thamesport. MOL also offers a fortnightly service between South and West Africa.


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