By: OrePulse

DP World will launch a new weekly container shipping service linking China with East and Southern Africa, with the Dubai-based port operator's Shipping Solutions AMEA business starting the route in late November 2026.

The service, called China Africa Link, will call at seven ports across five countries: Shanghai, Ningbo and Nansha in China; Port Klang Westport in Malaysia; Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; Maputo in Mozambique; and Singapore, before returning to Shanghai, the company said.

The route is designed to carry machinery, electronics, construction materials and automotive components from China, alongside African exports such as agricultural products, minerals and other commodities, according to DP World.

"Global trade is changing, and our customers need more than shipping capacity," said Ganesh Raj, DP World's global chief operating officer for marine services. "The new China Africa Link demonstrates how we are bringing our Connected Trade Corridors approach to life."

DP World tied the new route to its existing port investments in the two African countries it will serve. The company has committed more than 165 million dollars to expanding the container terminal at the Port of Maputo, a project designed to more than double the terminal's capacity, and has committed more than 500 million dollars to modernizing the Port of Dar es Salaam. Combined, the company said its investment across the two ports exceeds 665 million dollars.

Exact scheduling details, including the first sailing date, were not disclosed [uncertain]. The new link adds direct weekly capacity between China and the East and Southern Africa corridor through terminals DP World already operates in Tanzania and Mozambique, a corridor used by shippers moving cargo to and from the wider Southern African region.

DP World did not specify, in its announcement, how cargo volumes on the new route are expected to be split among the seven ports it will call at [uncertain]. The service joins a wider set of container routes the Shipping Solutions AMEA business operates linking ports across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and DP World said it forms part of what the company calls its Connected Trade Corridors approach, which ties its port, logistics and shipping assets together along specific trade lanes.

The rotation groups three Chinese ports — Shanghai, Ningbo and Nansha — with a call at Port Klang Westport in Malaysia before continuing to the two African ports and on to Singapore, a structure that broadly follows the cargo flows DP World described for the service: manufactured goods moving out of China and agricultural products, minerals and other commodities moving from Africa.

DP World said the combined investment of more than 665 million dollars across the Maputo and Dar es Salaam terminals underpins the additional weekly capacity the China Africa Link brings to the corridor.