Beira is now a viable alternative to Dar es Salaam or Durban for the handling of project cargo thanks to the rebuilding of the road between the port and the Zimbabwean border and the strengthening of the Chirundu bridge, says Kanishk Jaiswal, head of BLT Projects and Mozambique Vessel Agency (MVA).
The bridge, which crosses Rio Pungwe around 60km outside of Beira, had mass and size limitations before the recent upgrade of the road from Beira to the Zimbabwe border at Mutare. Jaiswal has joined the J&J team to head up its ships agency and projects divisions. He has handled a number of major projects in the SADC region, and most recently combined the J&J resources for the handling and delivery of Belaz machinery for a diamond mining project in Zimbabwe.
“It showed that J&J has all the assets needed to handle project cargo in the region. We combined the resources of Specialized Transport, BLT, IBLT and the J&J trucking operation,” he says. J&J established the ships agency in order to provide a full logistics service which includes the shipping leg. He also sees Beira being used as a potential hub for breakbulk supplies when work starts on oil and gas wells and refineries to the north. Smaller vessels with their own landing gear may be needed to transport the heavy equipment to the project sites in the north.
“The demand is expected to be so big that we will have to combine all logistics modes,” he says. The J&J Group established the MVA ships agency in order to provide the full logistics chain, from the point of despatch through to delivery. One of the spin-offs from the development of the oil and gas industry should be that Beira becomes a regular port of call for tramp steamers carrying equipment and breakbulk for the region. At present they call on Durban or Dar es Salaam because there is insufficient demand out of Beira to warrant a call.
Many shippers are also not aware of the fact that all the necessary logistics support is available in Beira. Costs and time can be saved through the use of the port, which is much closer than either Dar es Salaam or Durban to the developments in the region, says Jaiswal.
“What we need is for a line to introduce a regular monthly call carrying breakbulk and project cargo. That will help drive volumes and reduce costs for shippers.”
What we need is for a line to introduce a regular monthly call carrying breakbulk and project cargo – Kanishk Jaiswal
