Africa’s lack of logistics
infrastructure means that
the movement of project
cargo not only takes longer, but
is also extremely costly.
According to Dirk Matthysen,
general manager for Spedag
International Tanzania, this was
once again proved when they
had to move three gas turbines
and three generators to a
Tanzanian project site recently.
“Due to the lack of equipment
and infrastructure to handle
the cargo, specialised vehicles
had to be brought in from other
countries, while we could only
travel at night due to the width
of the cargo,” he said.
“While we found solutions
to the problems we faced and
managed to do the job required,
it was an expensive solution.”
This is often the case
with project cargo in Africa.
Getting the cargo off vessels
in congested ports to the actual
sites that often have little or
no road access increases costs
tremendously.
“Trying to move any big
cargo out of Dar es Salaam
during the day is impossible,”
said Matthysen. “It is absolute
chaos in the day and it only
ends at 9pm at night which
means that is the time when
you can start contemplating the
movement of big, heavy loads
out of the port.”
The problems, however,
don’t necessarily end once one
reaches a site.
“In one instance we arrived
at the site where there was
not a single crane. Unloading
three transformers of 65 tons
each with no cranes is not an
easy job. We finally managed it
using forklifts, but it took much
longer than it should have done,
once again increasing costs due
to the delays. It is really about
finding ways that we can do
this faster and cheaper.”
According to Sander Van
Damme, business development
manager Africa for Sarens
South Africa, there are always
solutions available for the
challenges faced with project
cargo.
“The solutions are usually
time-related and to get what
you need to a site can take
months. Time is the one thing
clients are not willing to give.
They want the job done and
they want it done now,” he
said. “The cost of executing
with the lack of infrastructure
is resulting in costs escalating
through the roof. Also one is
forced to have two or even
three spare parts of everything
on a project on the site which
costs money to do, because
getting it there only when there
is a breakdown can be very
time-consuming.”
CAPTION
Sander van Damme … ‘always
solutions available.’
