Container shipping capacity between Asia and West Africa has increased by almost 30% over the past year as carriers respond to growing trade volumes and rising demand across African supply chains.
Data from Alphaliner shows that 185 container ships with a combined capacity of approximately 1.4 million TEUs were deployed on the Asia-West Africa trade as of 1 July 2026. This represents an increase of almost 30% compared with July 2025, following growth of around 40% during the previous year.
The rapid expansion highlights the growing importance of African markets within global shipping networks. Alphaliner’s wider fleet analysis also found that container capacity deployed on African services increased by 25.3% year on year, significantly above the 5.7% growth recorded across the global container fleet.
Growing trade between Asia and Africa is driving much of this expansion, with shipping lines increasing service frequencies and deploying larger vessels to meet rising cargo demand.
Freight forwarding activity is also increasing. China-Africa trade has been identified as one of the fastest-growing ocean freight corridors, with additional growth being recorded in airfreight as businesses expand commercial links between the two regions.
However, rising cargo volumes are also placing greater pressure on African ports and the road and rail networks connecting major gateways with inland markets. Increased container traffic is creating a need for greater terminal capacity, efficient cargo handling and stronger inland logistics infrastructure.
Shipping companies are responding by expanding their African networks. Maersk, for example, strengthened its Asia-West Africa services during the second quarter of 2026 with a route connecting Asian ports with Tema, Abidjan, Lekki, Kribi and Pointe Noire.
The continued growth in container capacity reflects the expanding role of Africa in global trade while highlighting the need for ports, transport operators and logistics providers to increase capacity and improve supply chain efficiency.
