MSC switches to Lome as West Africa hub for Far East trade

THE Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) will become the first carrier to create a single hub in West Africa, whereby its Far East-West Africa volumes will be consolidated at Togo's port of Lome on its Africa Express service.

A network of local feeders will serve the other West African ports, reported Alphaliner.

Lome was added to the current rotation of the Africa Express service in October. From November 14, the other West African ports of Lagos (Tincan Island), San Pedro and Abidjan will be removed from the loop to shorten the duration of a round trip from 11 to 10 weeks.

The amended rotation is: Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou-Nansha, Shenzhen-Chiwan, Singapore, Port Louis, Cape Town, Lome, Ngqura (aka Coega), Singapore and back to Shanghai.

The change will mean a blow for San Pedro in Ivory Coast, which has so far served as MSC's hub port in the region. Lagos and Abidjan will be served by transhipment via Lome, from where a network of weekly feeder shuttles will be organised along the coast.

Of note, a Cape Town call, to be inserted in the southbound direction, will improve connectivity with South Africa.

The carrier is also upgrading the total capacity of the Africa Express, with 10 ships of 6,000-6,500 TEU replacing the current 11 ships of 4,000 TEU.

The revised West Africa feeder network will consist of the following shuttles centred on the new MSC hub of Lome, they are: Lagos-Tincan, Cotonou, Tema and Abidjan, Libreville, Douala, Freetown, Monrovia and Takoradi.

Each route will be served by one shuttle.