Balancing volumes continues to challenge logistics providers

The Walvis Bay corridor has proven itself to be a reliable, secure and costeffective freight transport option for all exports and imports in the southern African region,” says Pieter Greeff, managing director of Manica Group Namibia. “Cargo has been shipped from Walvis Bay to the Far East in less time and at lower cost than the larger ports of Durban and Cape Town,” he says. The Walvis Bay corridors have also attracted new shipping lines to the port, which has led to new cross-border partnerships and international competitiveness for the port, he added. The Manica Group Namibia provides full logistics support to various Zambia-based industries importing and exporting through the Walvis Bay port. “We are exploring partnerships with other logistics agencies that do not have a presence in Namibia to provide clearing and forwarding, shipping and warehousing support from Walvis Bay,” he said. “The challenge is to balance north- and southbound cargo volumes in order to economically benefit customers. “This requires dedicated supply chain solutions and services, strategically combined to adapt to a variety of customers, products and freight service demands,” Greeff told FTW. Manica is geared up to meet the needs of the mining and retail sectors in Zambia. “Manica has been actively improving and streamlining its services to a one-touch freight management solution. This has involved consolidating its warehousing facilities and services, re-instating its rail siding and platform at its MLC warehouse, construction of training facilities and the introduction of a state-of-the-art online track-and-trace system to provide clients with peace of mind about their cargo,” he says. Manica is seeing signs of the resurgence of the Zambian agricultural industry, but southbound volumes have not grown at the same pace. Greeff says there has been a “marked increase” in the import of trucks and heavy equipment for the agricultural sector, “but very little exports of goods and produce from that country”. He says Walvis Bay also allows Zambian exporters to diversify their market, which at present is primarily China, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and SADC countries. “If Zambia targets new markets in the West, Walvis Bay will be the most time- and cost-effective option for exports, especially to the Americas and Europe.” “Ample” warehousing space for containerised, break-bulk and other types of cargo, both bonded and non-bonded, is available for these exports. Manica recently handled the clearing and forwarding of the bulk of a recent discharge of more than 700 vehicles destined for Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana, and Greeff sees this trend continuing. “It is expected that the import of vehicles will continue, albeit at lower rates.”