Hapag-Lloyd and MOL in new UK-West Africa service

The service, to rotate between Antwerp, Hamburg, DP World London Gateway, Algeciras, Dakar, Lagos/Apapa, Tema, Abidjan and Algeciras before returning to Antwerp, will enable the UK to export chemicals, white goods, malt, fish and meat to Africa.

Meanwhile import goods such as canned fish, timber, bananas and vegetables will be carried inland by rail carriers DB Schenker and Freightliner.

“The decision to bring the service to DP World London Gateway by existing customers Hapag Lloyd and MOL demonstrates confidence in DP World London Gateway’s ability to deliver a reliable efficient service and their desire to grow their business at the port,” said London Gateway commercial manager, Tabare Dominguez.

Visiting the Port today, UK shipping minister Stephen Hammond commented: “DP World London Gateway is an important piece of national infrastructure connecting the UK to international markets, with deepsea, rail and road connectivity. I want to congratulate the DP World London Gateway team for their remarkable success in taking a brownfield site and turning it into a world-class state of the art deep-sea container terminal and logistics park.”

The new service will add to London Gateway’s existing connections including the South America West Coast (SAWC1) service, the Europe Pakistan India Consortium (EPIC) service, and a weekly service X-Press Feeders service to Dublin and Rotterdam. The Port is on track to open its third of a planned six berths, after the opening of berth two in May.