Hapag-LIoyd, a leading liner shipping company with over 12,500 employees and 360 offices in 125 countries is determined to increase its market share of 10%. This growth will be primarily driven by the trade in gold, oil and gas products.

Mr. Anthony Firmin, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Hapag-LIoyd at a Press Conference in Accra to officially open its new offices said his outfit is pleased that our enhanced presence in West Africa is showing initial signs of success.

He said the West Africa Express (WAX) service from and to West Africa has been operating with extraordinary success for several years and is very well received by customers.

“With our new East Africa Service (EAS), connecting all major trades globally via our hub in Saudi Arabia with Kenya and Tanzania, we have entered another new trade”, Mr. Firmin explained.

He said as a result, we are tying Africa even more closely to our global network while benefitting at the same time from positive economic developments in large parts of Africa.

Mr. Firmin said the GDP of West Africa has grown significantly in the last two years, rising by an average of 6%. Among the country’s most important export goods are cocoa, timber products and cashew nuts.

Meanwhile, Hapag-LIoyd has massively expanded its presence in Africa over the last wo years and established a fast connection from West Africa to Europe via what are now two services: the (WAX: Hamburg – Casablanca – Tangier – Dakar – Tema – Abidjan – Tangier – Antwerp – Hamburg) and the Mediterranean West Africa Express (MWX: Tangier – Algeciras – Cotonou – Lagos (Apapa & Pipan) – Tema – Tangier).

The company has a capacity of 2.3 million TEU – including one of the largest and most modern fleets of reefer containers. With his total of 120 liner services worldwide ensure fast and reliable connections between more than 600 ports on all the continents.

Present at the ceremony were Senior Officers of Hapag-LIoyd which includes Mr. Samad Osman, MD, Sub-Saharan Africa Region, Mr. Dheeraj Bhatia, Senior Managing Director, Region Middle East and Mr. Nils Haupt, Senior Director, Corporate Communications.