Port will offer a quicker turnaround
NAMIBIA is actively wooing SA importers and exporters to use Walvis Bay as a key conduit port to cut transit times to and from overseas markets.
A key plank in this strategy is the Walvis Bay corridor, a two-leg highway network that has dramatically improved access by road to and from the Namibian port since it became operational towards the end of 1999.
The two legs of the corridor are the Trans-Kalahari highway, linking Walvis Bay with Botswana and Gauteng, and the TransCaprivi highway to the north, that provides links to southern Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
A port master plan for Walvis Bay, drawn up after the port was handed back by SA in 1994, highlighted the need to extend the borders of the port within Namibia as well as to neighbouring landlocked states.
A key facet of the plan was the formation of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group, a non-profit organisation whose main member is the Namibian Ports Authority (Namport), the driving force behind the concept.
Other members include the national road and rail transport operator TransNamib, Namibia's freight forwarding and national road associations, and private transport companies.
The group works with the country's transport department.
Johny Smith, assistant marketing manager for Namport, which owns Walvis Bay and Luderitz, says because of Namibia's relatively small market it was considered essential to develop Walvis Bay as a regional port, to cater for the landlocked Botswanan, Zambian and southern Angolan markets.
Smith says their key priority areas at present are Botswana and the Gauteng market.
'We don't see ourselves as competitors to Portnet, but believe we can provide a service to clients with a quicker route to Europe and the Americas.'
Smith says that Walvis Bay has obvious attractions for the Gauteng market in view of the congestion problems at the port of Durban.
He says Walvis Bay not only offers an alternative to Durban, but provides shippers with a quicker turnaround time.
'Walvis Bay is about three days quicker to Europe than Cape Town and about five to seven days quicker than Durban.
'If goods arriving in Walvis Bay are transported to Gauteng by road they will arrive at the shipper's premises in Gauteng before the vessel on which the goods were shipped anchors at Durban.' Smith says the major shipping lines are becoming aware of the advantages that the port offers. Two major lines the German shipping line Macs and Maersk Sealand, which has set up offices in Walvis Bay and Luderitz have direct sailings to Europe.
'Our container vessels are normally turned around in less than 24 hours. This puts us on a par with Singapore,' he says.
'Apart from the quick turnaround times we have spare capacity at Walvis Bay we are using only about a third of our capacity at this stage.'
Walvis Bay also has an export processing zone, run by the Walvis Bay Export Processing Zone, which offers certain tax benefits and incentives for companies who want to set up factories, for example.
The port authority also offers discounts and rebates, depending on volumes, Smith says.
Publisher: Business Day
Source: Business Day
Port will offer a quicker turnaround
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