SAFMARINE AND MAERSK FORM JOINT INVESTMENT COMPANY IN SOUTH AFRICA
A.P. Moller group and its two South African affiliates — Safmarine (Pty) Ltd. and Maersk (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd. — have formed a joint land-based transport company based in South Africa.
Through the new company, called Southern Africa Transport Investments (Pty) Ltd., Safmarine and Maersk Sealand will seek “strategic investment opportunities in landside transport infrastructure in southern Africa,” a spokesman for the company said.
Safmarine and Maersk Sealand are two independently-managed companies of the A.P. Moller group that each have substantial activities in the liner trades to and from southern Africa.
Tony Farr, former managing director of Safmarine, has been named chairman of Southern Africa Transport Investments. Brett Gray is the company’s managing director.
The first project of the new company will be the development of a container repair and storage center in Cape Town, to be operational during the second quarter of next year.
Safmarine and Maersk have set up Southern Africa Transport Investments as South Africa prepares to privatize its port sector.
Last month, P&O Nedlloyd, TCI Infrastructure and Coega Development Corp. announced an agreement to seek together concessions for the development of a container terminal and industrial development zone near Port Elizabeth, South Africa.