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APL targets growing East Africa market with new service
POSTED: 8:45 a.m. EDT, June 6,2007
APL, the Singapore-based container shipping arm of global transportation and logistics group NOL, has re-entered the growing East Africa trade through the launch of its East Africa Express (EAX) service.
The weekly EAX service will connect the Indian subcontinent and Arabian Gulf to East Africa. The Indian port of Nhava Sheva will serve cargo originating from the Indian subcontinent and Arabian Gulf alongside ports in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, a company statement said.
The port rotation for the EAX service is: Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Nhava Sheva, Port Qasim, Jebel Ali, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Colombo again.
EAX will also connect with APL's China India Express (CIX) and Singapore Subcontinent Express (SSX) services to offer transshipment between the Far East and East Africa, as well as to the US and Mediterranean through transshipment via the India America Express (Indamex) service.
It is believed the EAX service is being offered through a slot chartering agreement on the GIA service provided by Emirates Shipping Line in partnership with TS Lines. The GIA service was launched in April and uses a fleet of six 1,100-TEU vessels, reports AXS-AlphaLiner News.
"Africa is an expanding economy which continues to report impressive GDP growth, averaging about five per cent annually in the past six years. In East Africa, economic growth is projected to accelerate to around six per cent in 2007 and 2008. To leverage on the region's strong growth potential, APL is extending its footprint into East Africa," said Jason Wong, APL's vice president for intra-Asia, Middle East and Australia trade. |
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