Safmarine expands fleet; will stop accepting Australia-bound cargo

The fourth in a series of panamax containerships to be delivered to Safmarine by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has been named the Safmarine Makutu.   

The 4,154 TEU Safmarine Makutu will join her sister-ships – Safmarine Mafadi, Safmarine Mulanje and Safmarine Meru - on the SAFARI 1 service between Asia and Southern Africa during September 2007.

The new vessel will replace a vessel of similar size already deployed to the service (Maersk Toba).  

The Safari services will remain a thirteen-vessel service, with seven vessels deployed on Safari 1 and six on the Safari 2 services. 

The Safari services offer the following port rotations:

Safari 1: Hong Kong > Shanghai > Ningbo > Yantian > Tanjung Pelepas > Durban > Cape Town > Port Louis > Tanjung Pelepas > Hong Kong
Safari 2: Hong Kong > Tanjung Pelepas > Port Louis > Port Elizabeth > Durban > Hong Kong
Safmarine’s fleet with be further boosted by seven new vessels in 2008 – five 2,474 TEU vessels to be delivered by Volkswerft Stralsund in Germany, and two 6,160 TEU vessels by Hanjin Heavy Industries. 

In addition to these owned vessels, Safmarine will also take delivery next year of six long-term charter vessels – four 12,000 dwt multi-purpose tweendeck vessels, and two 1,600 TEU feeder vessels (in a series of four).    

In other news, Safmarine has announced it will discontinue accepting cargo to and from Australia, effective January 1, 2008.