Maersk Line increases weekly calls to Tin Can

Maersk Line has dropped calls at Lome and Walvis Bay on its FEW1 service from the Far East and replaced them with an additional call at Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos.

The new rotation will result in the carrier making two weekly calls to the port of Tin-Can Island, Lagos. Maersk Line is already providing a weekly call on their FEW2 service from main ports in the Far East to both Apapa and Tin-Can.

The FEW1 new rotation will cater for the additional cargo to the Lagos area. The new rotation will be from Tanjung Pelepas-Tin-Can Island-Onne-Douala-Port Kelang-Tanjung Pelepas.

It would be recalled that Maersk Line in 2011 invested about $2 billion to build 22 new ships known as WAFMAX specially designed to visit West Africa’s shallow-water ports – and they are the largest ships with the capacity to carry 4,800 TEUs of containers. All the WAFMAX ships designed for Nigerian ports are currently in operation.

Maersk Line, which is the largest container carrier in the world, transported about 8.5 million FFE (Forty Foot Equivalent) containers in 2012. The shipping line has about 36 percent and 27 percent import and export shares, respectively, of the container shipping market in sub-Saharan Africa.