“Import volumes along the Beira corridors into Zimbabwe grew by 23% year-on-year," according to Jan de Vries, executive managing director at Cornelder de Moçambique, the operator of the Port of Beira. He says the port is fast becoming the preferred trade gateway of Zimbabwean companies. From January to November 2020 the corridor had handled 25 122 TEUs compared to 20 291 during the same period in the previous year, he told Freight News.During the fourth quarter of 2020, Cornelder had engaged with over 71 freight forwarders in Zimbabwe, many belonging to SFA A Z (Sh ippi ng & For warding Agents Association of Zimbabwe), to gain a more precise understanding of what was behind the robust growth in import volumes through the corridor, he said.“The responses from the agents showed why importers find that Beira offers competitive lead times over the other ports in the region, particularly freight from the East, which makes up the bulk of Zimbabwean imports,” he added.Beira is attracting larger vessels and more frequent calls.In May last year, the MSC Ginabecame the first Panamax vessel to call on the port.It is part of the weekly MSC East Africa Service which runs Mundra-Colombo-Mombasa- Dar-Es-Salam-Beira-Durban-Maputo-Beira-Mombasa-Mundra, “and makes it possible for importers to avoid the delays in Durban”.Maersk, CMA CGM and PIL also offer weekly services to the port.Ocean Africa connects Beira to South Africa and Namibia through a fortnightly feeder that calls on Maputo, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Lüderitz Bay and Wa lv i s Bay.In addition, according to the respondents to the Zimbabwean research, Beira offers shorter lead times and lower costs than the alternative ports.There is healthy competition between logistics service providers in Beira, which helps control costs and improve efficiencies, according to De Vries.“The port and corridor have proven that they are able to handle the growth in volumes, even with all the adversities encountered due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. De Vries noted that in 2020 Cornelder had faced some delays with the company’s investment plans. As third-party providers were unable to travel to Mozambique, some of the port’s larger civil engineering works were put on hold. Similarly, acquisition of equipment took longer than expected due to the disruption of the supply chains around the world. Cornelder opted for alternative solutions. First, the company dedicated much of its resources to protect employees in their workplace, including massive testing for Covid-19, the adoption of rotation processes, and renting of additional office space to ensure the required social distancing between employees. Second, the company reached out to local suppliers for the provision of critical services and products – including conversion of its warehouses, and the upgrade of accessibility infrastructure. Combined, these measures ultimately allowed the Port of Beira to keep its doors open throughout the pandemic.De Vries said that much like Cornelder, other companies were also investing in Beira, with a number of new warehouse projects under construction or in the planning stage. “Thus the Beira port and corridor will continue to be the preferred trade gateway for the Zimbabwean market,” he added.
