London — Cornelder de Moçambique, the private company that operates the port of Beira in central Mozambique, has announced that a sixth shipping line is now operating out of the port.
According to a press release issued by the company on Monday, Ocean Network Express (ONE), which is represented in Mozambique by Manica Freight Services, began operating on 31 August when ONE's ship, the Penang Bridge, docked at around 4.45 in the afternoon.
This additional shipping line has a space-sharing agreement with the international logistics experts Unifeeder, which in mid-August added Beira to its Mozambique-India-Jebel Ali service. Under this agreement, ONE will also transport UNIFEEDER containers to Beira in its fortnightly Beira to Maputo/Mombasa/India/Middle East route.
According to the Operations Director of Cornelder Mozambique, Miguel de Jenga, the addition of the ONE shipping line will bring a diversity of choices for importers and exporters using the Beira Corridor which covers the centre of Mozambique and hinterland countries. He added that there will be economic gains for exporters and importers due to "competitiveness between the shipping lines'.
Ahmad Ali Haffejee, the Director of Manica Freight Services in Beira, which is the agent for ONE, said he was pleased that ONE, which is already operating at the Port of Maputo, would now also operate out of Beira.
He added, "Cornelder de Moçambique is making major investments in the Port of Beira. This pleases us and benefits us all'.
ONE - Ocean Network Express will be the sixth shipping line to operate in the Port of Beira, joining MSC, PIL, MAERSK, CMA-CGM and Gold Star Line (GSL).
Ocean Network Express is the sixth-largest shipping line in the world with a market share of 6.6 per cent. It was founded in 2017 as a merger of the biggest Japanese shipowners: K Line (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha), MOL (Mitsui O.S.K. Lines), and NYK (Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha). It has a fleet of over 220 vessels, with a large number of Very Large Container Ships (10,000 to 20,000 TEU) and Ultra Large Container Ships with a capacity greater than 20,000 TEU.