Country desk
Toamasina handles most of Madagascar's foreign trade, with Mahajanga, Toliara and Ehoala serving regional cargo. Nickel and cobalt, vanilla, cloves and lychees leave the island; rice, fuel and cement arrive.
Maingate Shipping Limited coordinates ship agency across Madagascar for owners, charterers, managers, traders and lines. The trade through Malagasy ports is nickel, cobalt, vanilla, cloves, lychees and textiles outbound; rice, fuel, cement and consumer goods inbound. The island itself, with the highlands reached from Toamasina by road.
Formalities: the port authorities and terminal concessionaires at each port. The desk works with them on every call and keeps the principal clear of the detail unless the detail matters.
Operational note for Madagascar: cyclone season from January to March affects the east coast, and most crew travel routes through Antananarivo.
Each port has its own desk with the terminals, the cargo and the services a call needs.
Madagascar's ports are Toamasina. Toamasina handles nickel and cobalt, vanilla, cloves, lychees and textiles outbound, with rice, fuel, cement and consumer goods inbound through the container terminal, the general cargo berths and the extended quay from the port expansion programme.
Calls at each port are attended by our partner agent there under Maingate's instruction, with the Mombasa desk issuing the proforma DA, tracking the call and closing the account.
Much of what lands in Madagascar is going somewhere else: the island itself, with the highlands reached from Toamasina by road. The receiver's clearing agent, the transit bond, the delivery order and the truck or wagon are as much part of the call as the crane, and the desk keeps them moving with the discharge.
Documents follow the cargo inland; quantities are reconciled at the quay before the vessel sails.
Every Malagasy call touches the same authorities: the port authorities and terminal concessionaires at each port. Filing ahead, in the format each expects, is what keeps a vessel from waiting at anchor for a stamp.
Reports to the principal follow one style at every port: pre-arrival, daily, departure with the statement of facts, then the final DA.
Husbandry in Madagascar is planned port by port: cyclone season from January to March affects the east coast, and most crew travel routes through Antananarivo. The desk chooses the port for the crew change, the stem and the spares with the itinerary in view and tells the principal at nomination.
Protecting agency for owners runs alongside the charterer's agent where the charter party gives the charterer the appointment.
The desk advises from the cargo, the receiver's location and the port's current draft and berth position; the port desks in this cluster set out the facts for each.
Our partner agent at each port, appointed and instructed by Maingate Shipping; the Mombasa desk coordinates and is responsible to the principal.
Transit bonds, delivery orders and evacuation are coordinated with the receiver's clearing agent so that discharge is not held and the documents follow the cargo inland.
Yes, at the ports where each is available; the port desks state the position for crew changes and bunkers.
An agency fee per call agreed in the proforma DA, with port and third-party charges at cost and receipts attached.
One instruction, one account, one contact for the master and one for the principal.
The Madagascar desk connects to the port desks below and to the Africa agency line.
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Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091