MOL has announced changes to its service network linking India, Pakistan, the UAE and Africa, effective from July.
The services will be offered in partnership with Singapore-based Pacific International Line (PIL) and Mauritius-based Laurel Navigation (LNL). These two shipping companies will each provide three ships in the new service plan.
The India/Pakistan/UAE-East Africa-South Africa service, which is currently provided by MOL under the name of MRX, will discontinue calls at South Africa and instead the service will be dedicated to serving the East Africa market. The move is intended to stabilise ship schedules by reducing exposure to heavily congested ports in South Africa and East Africa, a statement from the Japanese shipping line said.
MOL plans to increase space for cargo bound to East Africa in response to rising market demand. Consequently, four 1,200-TEU ships will be used on the fixed-day, weekly service, which calls at: Karachi, Nhava Sheva, Jebel Ali, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and Karachi.
At the same time, MOL will start a new service between India, UAE, South Africa and West Africa to offer additional space in this emerging market and faster transit times.
The addition of regular calls at Cape Town is expected to enable MOL to tap into the dominant reefer cargo market from South Africa, which from there will link up with MOL's service network in the east coast of South America and the UAE.
This service will deploy five 1,200-TEU ships, on the following 12-day port rotation, calling at: Jebel Ali, Nhava Sheva, Durban, Lagos, Cotonou, Tema, Cape Town, Durban, and Jebel Ali. |
|
