NYK's forwarding arm Yusen Logistics has announced the opening of a new representative office in Johannesburg to investigate the wider African market, the company announced.

"An increasing number of companies are positioning South Africa as their base for those countries with growth potential in sub-Saharan Africa, and South Africa's importance in the region is growing," said a company statement.

"Our representative office in Johannesburg will research the market and logistics infrastructure for the entire area of sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to increasing its support of the existing businesses currently handled by our agencies, thereby aiming to build a framework to address the needs of our customers in countries in sub-Saharan Africa," the statement said.