Join the dots to find most cost-efficient port
Inland shippers in
southern Africa are
spoiled for choice when
it comes to ports thanks
to the development of a
network of corridors linking
the hinterland to port
gateways.
Harbours throughout the
region have been upgraded
– or are in the process of
being upgraded – and road
and rail links and logistics
support services have been
strengthened through
investment by all service
providers along the value
chain.
Shipping lines themselves
have opened inland offices
to facilitate the movement
of containers. This means
that containers no longer
have to be destuffed at the
port of entry and the goods
transhipped for transport to
destination.
While the gears of
government grind
exceedingly slowly at times,
customs authorities in the
different countries have
taken steps to speed up the
movement of cargo, driven
in part by the secretariat
of the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC).
Signs of progress include
the one-stop border post
at Kasumbalesa between
Zambia and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, the onestop
border post between
Zambia and Zimbabwe at
Chirundu, and upgrades
to the Katima Mulilo
post between Zambia
and Namibia, as well as
Komatipoort between South
Africa and Mozambique.
However, when
visiting the port cities in
neighbouring countries,
there is a common thread
– cargo owners and/or
their logistics providers are
hesitant to try new routes.
In Beira, the comment is
that shippers in Zimbabwe
refuse to use the port
because of problems last
seen a decade ago.
Similarly, one often gets
blank looks when asking
about Walvis Bay – despite
the aggressive marketing
by the Walvis Bay Corridor
Group and the work it has
done behind the scenes to
remove bottlenecks along the
corridors.
What the port authorities
have realised is that
harbours do not exist in
isolation – they are only as
good as their links to the
hinterland.
This is one of the reasons
why Ngqura does not appear
on corridor maps, despite its
positioning as a hub port by
Transnet. Given its distance
by road from import and
export centres in the rest
of the region, it needs
to be supported by costcompetitive
rail.
However,
Transnet Freight
Rail’s focus has
been on moving
bulk ore from
the Northern
Cape rather than
containers and cars
between Gauteng and
Ngqura.
The importance of rail is
seen in the rebuilding of the
line between the Angolan
port of Lobito and the
Copperbelt – described by
a number of analysts as a
potential “game changer”.
It will shorten the link
between the Copperbelt
and the sea by thousands
of kilometres and compete
directly against Walvis Bay,
Dar es Salaam, Beira and
Durban.
The rehabilitation of the
1 344-km Benguela railway
link between Lobito and the
DRC border started in 2006
and was completed in 2013.
Work has begun on
connecting it to Kapiri-
Mposhi in Zambia – with
South African logistics
company Grindrod being
among the partners of
NorthWest Rail, which
has the rights to build the
Zambian section of the rail
link.
Namibia has countered
with a new container
terminal in the port of
Walvis Bay, as well as a
new bulk SADC gateway
port, on which construction
has already
started.
Work has
also started
on the
Sesheke-
Mulobezi-
Kaoma-
Copperbelt
road, a joint
project between
Namibia and
Zambia, which will
shorten the distance between
the port and the Copperbelt
by 400 kilometres.
Plans to provide a
seamless rail link are well
advanced.
On the eastern side of the
region a Chinese company
is busy upgrading the
286-kilometre road between
Beira and the Zambian
border.
Linking Beira to
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi
and parts of the DRC, the
road carries around 3 000
trucks a day.
Farther down the coast
the authorities are also
upgrading the rail and road
links to the ports in Maputo
in order to attract the
greater volumes of traffic the
upgraded port can handle.
Other ports such as Dar
es Salaam, Nacala and
Mombasa are also being
upgraded – along with their
land-side links.
What this means for
shippers is that it is
becoming much easier to
move freight in, out of and
through the region – all
that is needed is to join the
dots to find the most costefficient
port and route.
