By: OrePulse

Hapag-Lloyd has opened two new offices in Africa, in Walvis Bay, Namibia, and Kigali, Rwanda, effective October 1, as the German container line expands its direct presence on the continent.

In Walvis Bay, a new entity, Hapag-Lloyd Shipping Namibia (Pty) Ltd, has taken over local operations previously handled by Inchcape Shipping Services. The vessel Hanover Express became the first ship handled under the new Namibian operation, on October 4. Hapag-Lloyd runs an Asia-West Africa service calling at Walvis Bay with 11 vessels carrying 7,000 to 8,500 TEU, and the port serves as a transit corridor for landlocked markets elsewhere in southern Africa.

The Kigali office is intended to serve both Rwanda and Burundi, markets with no direct sea access that connect to Hapag-Lloyd's network through the port of Dar es Salaam, where the carrier operates two weekly services with onward links to India and the Far East. The office gives the carrier a direct foothold closer to customers in two of East Africa's land-linked economies.

Managing Director Jesper Kanstrup said the new offices marked "an important milestone" in the company's continued development in Africa, adding that the continent's diversity requires understanding individual markets while drawing on the carrier's regional and global network capabilities.

The expansion is part of a broader push: Hapag-Lloyd expects its African transport volumes to exceed 1 million TEU in 2026. The carrier has also expanded a partnership with terminal operator DP World to secure capacity at the ports of Dakar, Luanda and Dar es Salaam. It is supporting infrastructure development at Banana in the Democratic Republic of Congo and at Maputo in Mozambique. The company has framed the two new offices as part of its Strategy 2030 growth plan and a wider effort to engage directly with customers across African markets, rather than through third-party agents.