News / CMA CGM doubles-up on service for growing Africa trade

Photo: MSC

CMA CGM and Maersk are releasing surplus 13,000 teu ships to their joint Far East-West Africa service, replacing the French carrier’s 5,000-7,000 teu ships on the route.

According to Linerlytica, the upgraded FW1/WAX service will start on 5 December, with the 13,302 teu Maersk Edirne and will have a 13-week turnaround.

Maersk and CMA CGM are contributing 13 ships of 13,300-13,800 teu, effectively doubling capacity on the service calling at Qingdao, Gwangyang, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Nansha, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Tema, Lekki, Abidjan, Pointe Noire, Colombo, Singapore, Xiamen, and Qingdao.

The FW1/WAX will be the second West Africa service to deploy ships of this size, following MSC’s Africa Express that uses ships of 13,000-15,000 teu. And the carrier had upgraded the service with a new direct call at Abidjan, providing direct links with major markets in Asia.

Linerlytica analyst Tan Hua Joo told The Loadstar: “It is CMA CGM that is doubling the capacity of the FW1/WAX service, with the addition of Maersk as a vessel operating partner. Both will release their excess-13,000 teu ships to this route, but almost all of the main carriers are facing the problem of excess capacity, and this will continue to push freight rates down on secondary routes, not just in Africa, but also in Latin America, the Middle East and Indian subcontinent.”

While CMA CGM and Maersk are cascading vessels into mid-haul lanes, African container trade has been growing as the region develops. Container Trade Statistics show that, so far this year, Asia-Africa trade has grown approximately 20% year on year, even as global container traffic retreated from the Covid-fuelled peak.

CMA CGM and Maersk will also revise the FW2/WAX3, which calls Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Lome, Apapa, Onne, Cotonou, Singapore, and will have 10 ships of 4,400-7,000 teu from 24 December. This represents an upsizing from the previous fleet of around 4,500 teu each.