SAL Heavy Lift will introduce a regular semi-liner service linking West, South and East Africa with Northern Europe, the Middle East Gulf and the Indian Subcontinent.
SAL says the regular service, which will commence operations on April 1, 2018, is in response to the quickly developing oil and gas, refining and transport infrastructure sectors, particularly in West Africa.
The service is scheduled to provide clients with a minimum of two sailings per month in each direction. According to SAL, the regular Africa service is an extension of its existing regular North Europe to Far East service.
Jürgen Kuntz, head of the Africa chartering desk at SAL, said: "We have considerable knowledge of African operations and excellent partners across the continent and we hope to build on this with our new venture; not only by offering shipping services but as well providing logistics capabilities and technical, on-site support and consultancy through our sister company, SAL Engineering."
The service will make use of Nigeria as a hub, and SAL expects most of the business to generate from West Africa, including Senegal and Angola, as various energy, oil and gas and infrastructural investments develop.
Christian Hoffman, head of marketing and corporate communications, added: "We have seen the effects of being more physically present in the region and we believe that our semi-liner service, tied in with the other shipping and technical solutions we can deliver, will enhance our footprint in the market."
