AFRICA / ASIA - African shipping specialist Safmarine is to implement a new container shipping service that is intended to improve the quality of the service it offers between East Africa and the Far East.
The new ‘Mashariki Express’, which will replace Safmarine’s existing ‘Mombasa Express’ service, will run between Mombasa / Dar es Salaam and Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia and will, according to the Belgium-based line, improve reliability and transit times between the two regions.
John Lim, Safmarine's Eastern Africa Manager, says that: “The Mashariki Express offers a number of benefits to both importers and exporters. Benefits to importers include shorter transit from the Far East to Mombasa (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) with preferred berthing in both Mombasa and Tanjung Pelepas.
“Exporters, in turn, benefit from the weekly calls from both Mombasa and Dar es Salaam to Tanjung Pelepas, improved schedule reliability (a buffer has been included to accommodate possible berthing delays) and preferred berthing in Mombasa and Tanjung Pelepas.”
The Mashariki Express will first run on the 2nd of March. Transit time is scheduled for thirteen days between Tanjung Pelepas to Mombasa and twenty-one days for Dar es Salaam to Tanjung Pelepas.
