After several calls dedicated to the transhipment of goods at the port of Kribi, South Cameroon in 2019, Maersk Line, world leader in maritime transport, has launched a new offer that now includes domestic import/export traffic to the United Arab Emirates, India and Sri Lanka (Invest in Cameroon, 15 May). These new destinations to the Middle East and India are possible thanks to the Midas1/Mesawa service operated by the shipping companies Maersk and CMA/CGM. According to Michael Mama, PAK’s Director of Operations, “Inevitably, the new service co-operated by Maersk and CMA/CGM will increase the Container Terminal’s market share for cargo to and/or from this region of the world [Middle East and India]. In addition, it will enable Cameroonian economic operators, whose suppliers and/or customers come from this area, to benefit from reduced transit time and competitive transport costs.”

There are no reported changes since the beginning of the crisis in the situation of the European ports, the only change is that the number of blank sailings has been augmented, so the frequencies coming from Africa are reduced. All ports remain fully operational; this is the case for Antwerp, Rotterdam, Le Havre and Hamburg.

Logistics company Maersk provides a Market Operational Status tool that allows users to determine the countries that are having significant disruption, and captures and updates daily the latest operational status for each country. The purpose of this section is only informative: we have received reports of certain difficulties in some countries that are not included in the Maersk review. An additional report from CMA CGM provides their local offices.

Specific routes

In order to check specific routes please check with Maersk https://www.maersk.com/schedules/, CMA CGM https://www.cma-cgm.com/ and MSC www.msc.com for vessels’ availability.

According to Maersk Country information, ports with significant disruption are:

• Angola
• Botswana
• Eswatini
• Guinea
  • Waiting time of more than one week registered in Conakry by our partners.
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Mauritius
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• South Africa
• Sudan
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Countries with some disruption are:

• Algeria
• Benin
• Cameroon
  • Big delays have been registered in order to export products.
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Djibouti
  • Significant delays in Djibouti
• Dominican Republic
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• Gabon
• Ghana
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Republic of Congo
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• Somalia
• Togo
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Tunisia

Maersk also publishes Ocean Service Adjustments which includes a list of cancelled sailings around the world, ordered by continent.

Other important news from Africa:

SAECS Service Enhancement – Citrus season

Peak Seasonal Surcharge (PSS) – Scope World Excluding North America to Apapa, NG and Tin Can Island Port, NG

Import Service (IMP) – Scope World to Djibouti

Additional information about sea freight can be found in Bolloré Logistics report and Logistics Cluster report.