London Gateway has landed its inaugural liner service customer, the long-established SAECS consortium which operates services between Europe and southern Africa.
This will be the first confirmed service for the new port, which will officially open in the fourth quarter.
Member lines Maersk and sister line Safmarine, plus Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines and Germany’s Deutsche Afrika Linien, advised customers of the planned switch from Tilbury to nearby London Gateway on Monday.
“With this change of terminal, the lines aim to secure not only benefits for their clients through the new infrastructure (such as improved rail connections) and access to UK markets, but also operational advantages which will assist the lines in maintaining schedule integrity and reliability, while enabling you to further streamline your supply chains,” the partners each said in letters to shippers.
This is what is expected to be just one of numerous UK schedule adjustments as London Gateway steps up its marketing efforts and other ports fight to retain their customers.
Perry Glading, chief operating officer for Forth Ports, which owns Tilbury’s London Container Terminal, expressed surprise that London Gateway had gone after a customer that operates relatively small ships when its business model had been based on post-panamax vessels.
But with a new competitor starting up at a time when the market is not expanding, he said it was inevitable that some ports would probably lose business in such a difficult environment.
The Southern Africa Europe Container Service, which dates back to 1977, operates eight ships of around 4,500 teu in its loop, which serves northern Europe. It had been putting some 40,000 boxes a year through Tilbury, which handles about 1 million teu a year in total.
With the exception of Tilbury, other ports in the rotation remain unchanged, with calls at Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Las Palmas, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban.
Cost was a key factor in the decision to switch ports, one source told sister publication Lloyd’s List.
The SAECS consortium was originally set up by P&O Nedlloyd, Safmarine and DAL. Maersk acquired an interest when it bought Safmarine, but then had to dispose of P&O Nedlloyd’s share to MOL when the Danish line bought the Anglo-Dutch carrier in 2005.
The identity of London Gateway’s first liner shipping customer has been of intense interest for weeks.
The DP World facility announced in June that retailer Marks & Spencer would be the first customer in the port’s logistics park, with a 900,000 sq ft warehouse .
But even then, nothing was revealed about shipping line customers for the terminal, which will have an initial capacity of 1.6 million teu and space to expand to 3.5 million teu when required.
However, the SAECS move suggests that other lines are also poised to make the switch, since the vessel sharing agreement partners referred to operational advantages, thought to refer to improved connections to other ports through transhipment at London Gateway.
Tilbury, which will lose the SAECS traffic, appears to be the first casualty of what is expected to be a considerable shake-up of UK liner calls as London Gateway starts signing up customers. Adding to the mood of uncertainty is the P3 Network of Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Co and CMA CGM that is due to start next year.
London Gateway has not yet commented on the imminent arrival of SAECS services. The first call will be MOL Caledon, scheduled to berth on November 7.
Portigon AG stated they were skint so weren't funding anyone? Others said the same? Funding disappearing from DP World London Gateway?
Asking Portigon AG to stop funding @DP_World whilst they continue to deny basic human rights at London Gateway.
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