MOL has amended one of its existing container shipping services to South Africa and South America, reducing calls at Durban while launching a new Asia-South Africa shuttle from April.

While reducing Durban frequencies to South America, MOL will increase the frequencies from Asia to the South African Indian Ocean port with weekly service to Durban instead of every 10 days.

But the weekly Asia/South Africa/South America East Coast (CSW) service will cease calling at the port of Durban outbound. In the second quarter, the CSW will begin service from Asia to the east coast of South America.

"The upgrade will offer more stable scheduling and faster transit times by eliminating calls at Durban, where port congestion is a constant issue. At the same time, the company will increase space for cargo bound from Asia to the South American east coast, in response to rising demand in that market," a company statement said.

MOL operates the CSW service jointly with Singapore-based Pacific International Lines (PIL).

The revised port rotation for the new CSW service will be: Kobe, Yokohama, Nagoya, Pusan, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Sao Francisco do Sul, Paranagua, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kobe.

The Japanese transportation and logistics giant is also launching a new shuttle service route between Asia and South Africa, the South African Express (ZAX).

A new service will be operated between Singapore and Durban, starting from April, in a bid to replace the calls at Durban eliminated from the CSW service. MOL will operate the weekly ZAX service independently, with four 1,600-1,700 TEU containerships.

The service will offer more flexibility in ship scheduling, as well as increased cargo space to better serve Durban's expanding market. The route restructuring is also expected to allow MOL to respond more effectively to port congestion at Durban.