Hapag-Lloyd opens new office in Tema, Ghana
Hapag-Lloyd celebrated the official opening of its new office in Tema, the most important port city in Ghana. Beginning immediately, Hapag-Lloyd will manage all its activities in West Africa from this location, the company said in its press release.
The GDP of West Africa has grown significantly in the last two years, rising by an average of 6 percent. Ghana numbers among the fastest-growing economies in the region. This growth is primarily driven by the trade in gold, but also in oil and gas products. Among Ghana’s most important export goods are cocoa, timber products and cashew nuts.
Hapag-Lloyd has massively expanded its presence in Africa over the last two years and established a fast connection from West Africa to Europe via what are now two services: the West Africa Express (WAX, Hamburg – Casablanca – Tangier – Dakar – Tema – Abidjan – Tangier – Antwerp – Hamburg) and the Mediterranean West Africa Express (MWX, Tangier – Algeciras – Cotonou – Lagos (Apapa & Pipan) – Tema – Tangier).
Both services will call at the port city of Tema, which is not far from Ghana’s capital, Accra. Plans call for the port’s annual handling capacity to be tripled by mid-2019, from 1 million to 3 million TEU. Hapag-Lloyd is expecting additional growth opportunities from this capacity expansion.