Alan Peat A NEW consortium is due to set sail on the Indian sub-continent, Middle East and East and South Africa trade - beginning in SA in with a November sailing from Durban. It sees the addition of Pacific International Line (PIL) to the previous partnership of P&O Nedlloyd (PONL) and Laurel Navigation “Initially, P&O and Laurel were working on a basis of two-and-a-half ships each,” said PONL’s marketing manager, Iain McIntosh. To solve this formula, he added, PONL chartered one of the ships, and on-sold 50% of the space to Laurel. “But we had a very tight schedule for this five ship fleet,” said McIntosh, “and even the slightest delay could have a serious effect on schedule integrity. “And, with congestion in the Port of Durban, and at Nhava Sheva, this service was struggling to deliver the promised weekly schedule.” The answer, McIntosh added, was to bring in PIL and to increase the fleet number to six ships - two from each of the partners in the agreement. “These are vessels with an effective capacity of around 1 000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units),” he told FTW, “and give us a 42-day round voyage.” Another move was to bring the Gulf port of Jebel Ali forward in the schedule. “This,” said McIntosh, “sped up the service between SA and the Middle East - a growing area of trade for exporters in this country.” It also allowed the service to add the two Mozambique ports of Maputo and Nacala to the port rotation. And Mozambique’s capital city port meets with PONL’s approval, according to McIntosh. “At Maputo you berth on arrival - no waiting around for days for a berth to clear. “The container terminal also works fine, and the port is cheaper than Durban.” The first southbound sailing of the new triumvirate was from Nhava Sheva on October 14. The port rotation for the new service is: Durban, Maputo (additional), Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Karachi, Jebel Ali, Nhava Sheva, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Nacala (additional).
