Africa's rivers a breakbulk solution?

As Africa’s port and road infrastructure often causes major delays in the delivery of project cargo – which is often timesensitive – Teras Cargo Transport is exploring the option of using the continent’s rivers to transport cargo. “We have surveyed the option of using 460 kilometres of the Zambezi river, which flows from Zambia, through Zimbabwe to Mozambique, as this is becoming an increasingly important trade route,” said Lonnie Tiegs, vicepresident of Teras Cargo Transport. He told FTW that the company had experimented on the river and discovered that cargo of up to 300 tons could be transported by shallow barge. “Unfortunately there is currently no political will to back the concept and the Mozambique government doesn’t allow congress over the river but we are working with the governments involved and believe this could be a reality in three years’ time,” said Tiegs. He added that there were other African rivers that could provide alternative freight routes, including the Kwanzi river in Angola and the Nile river. “The options would be seasonal but we believe they could greatly minimise risks to schedules and cost for project cargo logistics,” he noted. CAPTION The Zambezi river Community buy-in is critical at the point where four countries meet – Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.