German shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd informed that, starting from April, it will launch a new weekly service between the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah and the east coast of Africa, called East Africa Service (EAS).
With this service, the company will be calling at the ports of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for the first time. These will be connected to Hapag-Lloyd’s network through the port of Jeddah, as the central hub of the region. Hapag-Lloyd will initially deploy four vessels, each with a capacity of 1,200 TEU, in the EAS.
EAS aims to benefit the economies of East-African countries as well, giving them access to the global market, as many of the do not have their own seaports. Namely, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi and Zambia will gain direct access to markets worldwide.
“With our EAS, we will be entering a trade which our customers have wanted us to serve. In the process, the EAS will benefit from Hapag-Lloyd’s strong presence in the Middle East and connect to our global network,” Lars Christiansen, Senior Managing Director Region Middle East said.
The first sailing in the EAS from Jeddah will take place in early April. The port rotation will be Jeddah – Mombasa – Dar es Salaam – Jeddah. Hapag-Lloyd will operate its East Africa Service without other shipping companies as partners.
