Hapag-Lloyd grows market presence in Africa as it opens office in Ghana

Hapag-Lloyd, a multinational German-based shipping company, has expanded its market presence in Africa as it recently celebrated the official opening of its new office in Tema, the most important port city in Ghana.

Beginning immediately, the management of Hapag-Lloyd said the company will manage most of its operational activities in West Africa from the new office in Ghana.

“We are very pleased that our enhanced presence in West Africa is showing initial signs of success,” Anthony Firmin, chief operating officer (COO) of Hapag-Lloyd, said.

According to him, Hapag-Lloyd’s West Africa Express (WAX) service from and to West Africa has been operating with extraordinary success for several years and is very well received by customers.

“With our new East Africa Service (EAS), connecting all major trades globally via our hub in Saudi Arabia with Kenya and Tanzania, we have entered another new trade. As a result, we are tying Africa even more closely to our global network while benefiting at the same time from positive economic developments in large parts of Africa,” he added.

On why the choose Ghana ahead of other West African economies to situate the head office, he said that the GDP of West Africa has grown significantly in the last two years, rising by an average of 6 percent but Ghana numbers among the fastest-growing economies in the region.

“This growth is primarily driven by the trade in gold, but also in oil and gas products. Among Ghana’s most important export goods are cocoa, timber products and cashew nuts,” he pointed.

Hapag-Lloyd has massively expanded its presence in Africa over the last two years and established a fast connection from West Africa to Europe through what are now two services: the West Africa Express (WAX: Hamburg – Casablanca – Tangier – Dakar – Tema – Abidjan – Tangier – Antwerp – Hamburg) and the Mediterranean West Africa Express (MWX: Tangier – Algeciras – Cotonou – Lagos (Apapa & Pipan) – Tema – Tangier).

Both services will call at the port city of Tema, which is not far from Ghana’s capital, Accra. Plans call for the port’s annual handling capacity to be tripled by mid-2019, from 1 million to 3 million TEU. Hapag-Lloyd is expecting additional growth opportunities from this capacity expansion.

AMAKA ANAGOR