The shipping line has opened new offices in Mombasa and Nairobi to better serve the Kenyan and East African markets. The two Kenyan stations complement offices already set up in Egypt,
Ghana, South Africa, and Nigeria. In addition, a Quality Service Center was established in Mauritius to explicitly handle and support the company’s Africa activities, one of Hapag-Lloyd’s fastest
growing markets.

Africa is on its way to becoming a key market within the shipping line’s global network. This is seen by an increase in sailings in recent times, complemented by a growing number of offices
established at strategically and economically important ports such as Tema in Ghana, Durban in South Africa, or – of late – Mombasa in the Indian Ocean.
Currently, Hapag-Lloyd operates more than 10 direct services to the African continent, linking its local markets with the shipping line’s global network via Tangiers or Jeddah. While Tema, the
company’s West African sub hub offers customers access to the Ghanaian hinterlands, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, or Niger, its Durban-based African South, East, & North sub area offers
connections to Djibouti, Sudan, Angola, Congo, or Madagascar, as well as connections into remote areas located in Rwanda, Zambia, or Malawi.

Mombasa becomes a gateway for Hapag-Lloyd East Africa sailings
Back to Kenya, where the shipping line exports mainly agricultural goods, particularly coffee, tea, fruits, and textiles, while imports consist of industrial goods, chemicals, but also foodstuff.
Via the gateway port of Mombasa, the shipping company offers two different services. While the China Kenya Express Service (CKX) connects Kenya with some of the most important ports in Far East,
such as Singapore and Shanghai, the East Africa Service (EAS2) links the East African country with the shipping line’s global mainline network via Dubai and ports located on the west coast of
India.

Robust growth expected to continue
The Kenya expansion is a reaction to the ongoing market development in Africa that is very dynamic, experiencing annual growth rates between 7% and 10%, depending on local situations, states the
Hapag-Lloyd management.
“Kenya is the economic hub of East Africa and the most important growth region on the continent,” says Dheeraj Bhatia, Senior Managing Director Region Middle East at Hapag-Lloyd. “By
opening our new offices in Kenya, we expect to continue our robust growth on the African continent.”
This is confirmed by Rolf Habben Jansen, Chief Executive Officer at Hapag-Lloyd: “Our ‘Strategy 2023’ focuses not only on becoming the ‘Number One for Quality’, but also in selected growth
markets worldwide. We see an enormous growth potential in Africa and will further invest into our services and selected countries.”
In addition to the ports and offices mentioned above, Hapag-Lloyd runs a Quality Service Center in Mauritius.

Heiner Siegmund

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