Maersk Shipping Line and its sister company, Safmarine, have denied stopping their services to the ports in Lagos.
In a Customer Advisory, both shipping lines said calls to Lagos ports continue across their global network, despite the challenges.
The Customer Advisory issued by Maersk reads: “The West Africa market continues to be dynamic and market demand fluctuates significantly from quarter to quarter. Currently, we are experiencing severe delays in Lagos due to highly utilised terminal yards, crane break-downs and long trucking queues. We continue to work proactively with all our terminal partners across West Africa and specifically with Nigerian Ports Authority to assist where possible to mitigate the congestion currently being experienced in Lagos.
“As was communicated in early January, we would like to reiterate some adjustments made to various services across our Far East to West Africa network to deliver a stable and reliable product to our customers. Please find below the service rotations within West Africa before returning to the Far East: “FEW1 will serve Cotonou, Abidjan, Tincan and Lome; FEW2 will serve Walvis Bay, Apapa, Tema, Apapa and Pointe Noire; FEW3 will serve Tema, Lome, Cotonou, Onne and Walvis Bay. Additional to the above mentioned we will continue to call in Lagos with our Middle East product (MESAWA) and our Europe service (WAF6),” Maersk stated further.
Maersk said the change to its service rotation was to ensure “we can continue to call at all West African ports that we have in the past whilst ensuring we limit the impact of the delays on your cargo”.
The company said it would continue to monitor the situation and will communicate any future changes to its vessel schedules, “as is the norm across our global network”.