By: OrePulse

Hapag-Lloyd said its African container transport volumes passed 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) for the first time in 2026, as the German shipping line marks 20 years of operations in South Africa and sets a target of 1.7 million TEU a year across the continent by 2030.

The carrier, which serves 27 African countries, opened its first dedicated South African office in 2006 and now employs 52 people locally. Hapag-Lloyd has expanded its African network through a series of acquisitions and partnerships over the past several years, including its 2022 purchase of the container liner business of Deutsche Afrika-Linien, which strengthened links between South Africa, Europe and the Indian Ocean, and its 2021 acquisition of NileDutch, which bolstered its presence in West Africa.

The company established a dedicated Sub-Region Africa unit in 2024 to oversee its growing operations on the continent. It has also expanded cooperation with port operator DP World for terminal capacity in Dakar, Luanda and Dar es Salaam, and said it supports infrastructure development in Banana, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Maputo, in Mozambique.

Rogelio Busto, Hapag-Lloyd's managing director for South and East Africa, said: "Over the past 20 years, we have built strong relationships with our customers and partners in South Africa." Jesper Kanstrup, managing director for the company's Sub-Region Africa unit, said: "Africa is one of our key growth markets, with significant long-term potential."

Hapag-Lloyd is planning anniversary events in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg to mark the 20-year milestone, which the company said would include employee stories highlighting the growth of its South African operations since 2006.

The milestone comes as container shipping lines continue to expand capacity and port partnerships across Africa, where trade volumes have grown steadily even as the continent's share of global container traffic remains relatively small compared with Asia, Europe and North America. Hapag-Lloyd's target of 1.7 million TEU a year by 2030 would represent growth of roughly 70% from the volume reached in 2026, underscoring the scale of the expansion the carrier is targeting over the next several years.

The company did not provide a specific breakdown of projected volume growth by country or route, nor did it disclose the investment associated with its target. Hapag-Lloyd's continued cooperation with DP World on terminal capacity in multiple African ports suggests infrastructure partnerships will remain a key part of its strategy for scaling up African operations toward the 2030 target.

Container shipping lines have increasingly focused on African trade lanes in recent years as volumes on some established Asia-Europe and transatlantic routes have grown more slowly than before, prompting carriers including Hapag-Lloyd to invest in dedicated regional management structures and deeper port partnerships across the continent's coastal markets.