German international shipping company Hapag-Lloyd AG has opened a Nairobi office with an eye on increasing shipments of agricultural commodities like tea, coffee, fruits and textiles from the country.
Hapag-Lloyd, which has a fleet of 222 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), said the local office will seek to support exporting firms.
German international shipping company Hapag-Lloyd AG has opened a Nairobi office with an eye on increasing shipments of agricultural commodities like tea, coffee, fruits and textiles from the country.
Hapag-Lloyd, which has a fleet of 222 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), said the local office will seek to support exporting firms but also provide it with a gateway to expanding into the region.
It's shipments into Kenya primarily consist chemicals, foodstuffs and a wide range of goods made of plastic or rubber.
The new office will be headed by Prashant Sindhwani, who was confirmed to the position in December last year.
“Kenya is the economic hub of East Africa and the most important growth region on the continent,” said Dheeraj Bhatia, senior managing director in charge of Middle East region at Hapag-Lloyd.
“By opening our new office in Kenya, we expect to continue our robust growth on the African continent.”
The shipping company offers two different services through the gateway port of Mombasa.
It's China Kenya Express Service (CKX) connects Kenya with some ports in Asia, such as Singapore and Shanghai while the East Africa Service (EAS2) connects the East African country with the west coast of India and Jebel Ali in Dubai.
The firm also says it serves landlocked East African countries – such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan – with regular inland connections to and from Mombasa.
Following the Kenya expansion, the firm said it will develop inland connections to Somalia, southern Ethiopia and northern Tanzania.
The county's fast expanding roads and railways network are expected to be the key drivers for accelerating growth of the country’s logistics sector, estimated to hit $5 billion (Sh500 billion) by 2023.
Other factors are harmonised levies for foreign investors, increasing retail and e-commerce space and Kenya’s strategic location, according to Ken research, an India-based, global aggregator and publisher of market intelligence, equity and economy reports.
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