Angola South adds a vessel

23 Jun 2000 - by Staff reporter

New groupage service launched

A SECOND vessel has been added to the Angola South Line fleet, with calls at Cape Town now scheduled at about a two-a-month frequency, according to Mark Kilbride of SA agents, Meihuizen Freight.
The Afrostar - a multipurpose ship designed to handle both containerised and breakbulk cargoes - is adding capacity at a time when cargo volumes to Angola have been on a rise.
We can't tell if this is just a cyclical fluctuation, or a longer term increase, said Kilbride. The Angolan market, as always, remains unpredictable.
However, there has been an increase in cargoes - like fruits, vegetables and construction equipment.
Kilbride also suggests that the United Nations' procurement offices now appear to be focusing on SA for a pricing of goods bound into the African continent's conflict areas - especially to Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
We're already seeing increased activity from that alone, he told FTW.
There is also the possibility of Angola South adding Durban to the equation, Kilbride added.
With two ships, there is possibly a need to diversify the ports of call - to spread this extra capacity supply over a greater demand area, he said. But we are not fully committed to this yet.
What is a commitment is the new groupage service - for less than container load (LCL) cargoes - to the Angolan capital of Luanda.
We have been busy developing this service, said Kilbride. We already have a warehouse in Luanda for de-grouping, and are looking at groupaging out of Johannesburg.
This latter is designed, he added, to offer a substitute for the scarce (and costly) airfreight services into Angola.
The Angola South groupage service will offer Angolan buyers in the SA market larger capacity levels for their purchases, according to Kilbride. There is also the competitive element, he said. Seafreight is cheaper than airfreight.

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