A leading global liner shipping company with over 170 years of experience in shipping, Hapag-Lloyd today celebrated the official opening of its new office in Tema which will manage most of its operational activities in West Africa.

Announcing their presence in Ghana at a press conference organised at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, the Chief Operating Officer of Hapag-Lloyd AG, Anthony J. Firmin said the Tema Port could become the transhipment hub for West Africa if the harbour’s operations and legal requirements are made suitable for transhipment.

“Well, the expansion in the port will definitely make shipment into Ghana and transhipment in this area much more efficient...The port of Tema could become the transhipment hub for West Africa but their operations and the legal requirements need to be suitable to be able to manage transhipment”, he said.

Speaking to the media, Mr. Firmin indicated that Ghana was chosen as the hub for West Africa because of its political and legal stability and also because of its friendly business nature.

“The GDP of West Africa has grown significantly in the last two years, rising by an average of 6 percent. Ghana numbers among the fastest-growing economies in the region. This growth is primarily driven by the trade in gold, but also in oil and gas products”, he added.

He further stated that “I’m very pleased that our enhanced presence in West Africa is showing initial signs of success. Our 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. As a result, we are tying Africa even more closely to our global network while benefiting at the same time from positive economic developments in large parts of Africa.”

Hapag-Lloyd offers a fleet with a total capacity of 1.6 Million Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU), as well as a container stock of more than 2.3 million TEU including one of the world’s largest and most modern reefer container fleets. A total of 120 liner services worldwide which ensure fast and reliable connections between more than 600 ports on all the continents.

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