Contrary to some media reports, one of the world’s largest container carriers, Maersk and its sister company Safmarine have denied stopping their services at the ports in Lagos.
In a Customer Advisory they issued separately in Lagos, both shipping lines said calls to Lagos ports continue across their global network despite challenges facing operations at the ports in Lagos.
“The West Africa market continues to be dynamic and market demand fluctuates significantly from quarter to quarter. Currently we are experiencing severe delays in Lagos due to highly utilised terminal yards, crane breakdowns and long trucking queues.
“We continue to work proactively with all our terminal partners across West Africa and specifically with Nigerian Ports Authority to assist where possible to mitigate the congestion currently being experienced in Lagos.
“As was communicated in early January, we would like to reiterate some adjustments made to various services across our Far East to West Africa network to deliver a stable and reliable product to our customers,” the company said.
According to the company, “FEW1 will serve Cotonou, Abidjan, Tincan and Lome. FEW2 will serve Walvis Bay, Apapa, Tema, Apapa and Pointe Noire while FEW3 will serve Tema, Lome, Cotonou, Onne and Walvis Bay.”
Maersk added that the changes to its service rotation was to ensure, “we can continue to call at all West African ports that we have in the past whilst ensuring we limit the impact of the delays on your cargo.”
“Additional to the above mentioned we will continue to call in Lagos with our Middle East product (MESAWA) and our Europe service (WAF6),” Maersk stated further.
The company said it would continue to monitor the situation and will communicate any future changes to its vessel schedules, “as is the norm across our global network”.
In the same vein, Safmarine, in its own Customer Advisory said its service rotations within West Africa before returning to the Far East include: FEW1 serving Cotonou, Abidjan, Tincan and Lome; FEW2 serving Walvis Bay, Apapa, Tema, Apapa and Pointe Noire; and FEW3 serving Tema, Lome, Cotonou, Onne and Walvis Bay.
