Container Shipping Line Opens Old Freight Route

AFRICA – A novelty this week as French container shipping line CMA CGM announces that it will henceforth include a port call at Buchanan in Liberia claiming to be the only ocean freight carrier to call at the port in twenty years. Exports from the region include locally sourced wood, rubber, palm oil and minerals.

The CMA CGM Group will also serve Buchanan, which lies about 110 kilometres south east of the country’s capital, Monrovia, for import cargo from worldwide on CMA CGM long haul services through the Tangiers hub. Buchanan has seen agreements put in place recently which include finance from China for industrial infrastructure redevelopment and has traditionally been an export point for iron ore, now principally from interests of the AcelorMittal group which has invested heavily in the railway line from in-country mine assets.

The new CMA CGM service will be part of its PC North loop which is served by four vessels each of 1,600 TEU. The first call at Buchanan will be with MV Spero voyage 8E025S on the 24 March 2014 and henceforth the CMA CGM PC North service full rotation will be as follows:

Tangiers (Fri) – Nouakchott (Fri) – Banjul (Sun) – Freetown (Wed) – Monrovia (Sat) – Buchanan (Wed) - Tangiers

Photo: Mountains of wood chips at Buchanan, controversy often surrounds the supply of Liberian natural resources.