Turkish shipping operator Arkas Line officially ended its direct service on the North Europe-West Africa route in December 2024, after almost ten years of operations along this strategic corridor.
However, Arkas Line maintains a strong presence in West Africa via its Tanger Med hub, thanks to optimized services and strategic partnerships.
Up to the end of 2024, Arkas offered two main services on the North Europe – West Africa trade route:
- Tema Express (TEX): This service linked Le Havre to Tanger Med and Tema, via time slots on the Europe-West Africa WWA service operated by Hapag-Lloyd.
- Europe Tanger Service (ETS): This offer connected Europe to West Africa via transshipment at Tanger Med, with calls at Rotterdam, Wilhelmshaven (temporarily replacing Hamburg), Antwerp, then back to Rotterdam via Tanger Med.
These two services, which have now been discontinued, have given way to a strategy refocused on Tanger Med, enabling Arkas to continue serving West Africa competitively.
Since January 2025, Arkas Line has relied on two new services via time slots on lines operated by HapagLloyd:
- West Africa Service (WAS): This service covers a wide network linking Tanger Med, Dakar, Lagos, Cotonou, Abidjan, Tema and back to Tanger Med, using Hapag-Lloyd’s WAX (Tanger Med – West Africa) service.
- Morocco Export Service (MES): This more specialized service links Tanger Med to Nouakchott, and is based on Hapag-Lloyd’s WA1 (Tanger Med – West Africa) service.
Arkas Line’s decision to consolidate its activities via Tanger Med reflects the growing importance of the Moroccan port complex as a hub for trade between Europe and West Africa. By relying on this hub, Arkas Line guarantees the continuity of its services and meets the growing needs of African markets, while also optimizing its operational resources.
With this reorganization, Arkas Line continues to play a key role in the development of maritime trade between Europe and West Africa, while reinforcing Tanger Med’s logistics capabilities as a regional hub.
