New office in Tema, Ghana will oversee the German carrier’s operations in West Africa.
Hapag-Lloyd said Wednesday that it had opened an office in Tema, the largest port in Ghana and not far from the capital city Accra.
The German liner carrier will manage all of its activities in West Africa from Tema, said Anthony Firmin, chief operating officer of Hapag-Lloyd.
He said the company’s enhanced presence in West Africa is “showing initial signs of success.”
“Our 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 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.”
Hapag-Lloyd said, “The GDP of West Africa has grown significantly in the last two years, rising by an average of 6 percent. 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.”
Hapag-Lloyd said it has two services from Europe that call West Africa ports, including Tema.
The WAX service has the following rotation: Hamburg – Casablanca – Tangier – Dakar – Tema – Abidjan – Tangier – Antwerp – Hamburg.
The Mediterranean West Africa Express (MWX) service has the following rotation: Tangier – Algeciras – Cotonou – Lagos (Apapa & Pipan) – Tema – Tangier.
Hapag-Lloyd said plans call for Tema’s annual handling capacity to be tripled by mid-2019 and that it expects additional growth opportunities from the expansion.
According to APM Terminals, “The port of Tema handles approximately 70 percent of Ghana’s seaborne freight traffic. It also serves to some extent as a gateway for the landlocked countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.”
APM Terminals and Bolloré Group formed a consortium, Meridian Port Services Limited, in 2002 with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority to operate and expand the Tema port container terminal.
The terminal has been partially operational since April 2007, when approximately two-thirds of the container terminal yard was made available.
Last year APMT said construction began on a port expansion that “calls for 1.4 km of deep-water quay, with four new berths equipped to accommodate Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS) of up to 18,000 TEU capacity.”
APMT added the project will add more than 3 million TEUs in annual throughput capacity to the port, along with facilities for non-containerized cargo, creating a new hub for West Africa. It is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2019. A new six-lane highway also will be constructed between the port at Tema and Accra to enhance the movement of cargoes into and out of interior points.
Hapag-Lloyd focuses on growing market in Africa
