By Adedapo Adesanya
Shipping giant, Hapag-Lloyd, has opened its new office in Lagos to tap into the many opportunities available in the largest economy and most populous country in Africa, Nigeria.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, the shipper noted that with the expansion, it hopes to play a crucial role in the container liner’s growth strategy on the continent, adding that its new office in will create further growth for the company and improve the country’s connection to the world.
According to Mr Vishal Bundhun, Managing Director Area West Africa at Hapag-Lloyd, “We are happy to welcome the new team and our country manager Florian Nittscher to the Hapag-Lloyd family!
“Via the Middle East India Africa Express (MIAX) and the Mediterranean West Africa Express (MWX), Nigeria is well-connected to the global Hapag-Lloyd network. With our new office, we move even closer to our customers in the region.”
On his part, Mr Dheeraj Bhatia, Senior Managing Director Region Middle East at Hapag-Lloyd, added that, “Hapag-Lloyd has been expanding its business steadily in West Africa over the past years. Our new office in Lagos will create further growth for us and will help us to even better connect Nigeria to the world.”
Nigeria is the economic powerhouse of West Africa. With large oil reserves and a growing middle class, the country imports everything from industrial machinery to electronic appliances. Nigeria’s main exports are cocoa beans, cashews, and other agricultural products.
In Lagos, Hapag-Lloyd calls at the ports Apapa and Tin Can Island. In order to offer its African customers consistently high service all over the continent, Hapag-Lloyd opened a dedicated Quality Service Center in Mauritius at the beginning of the year.
With a fleet of 239 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 1.7 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. The company has around 13,000 employees and 388 offices in 129 countries.
The shipper has a container capacity of approximately 2.6 million TEU – including one of the largest and most modern fleets of reefer containers. A total of 121 liner services worldwide ensure fast and reliable connections between more than 600 ports on all the continents. Hapag-Lloyd is one of the leading operators in the Transatlantic, Middle East, Latin America and Intra-America trades.
