Beira has shown that it has the ability to handle the region’s biggest-ever tobacco crop, says Guy Harvey, chief executive officer of Beira-based Transcom Sharaf.
Contract farmers in Zimbabwe have produced 250 million kilograms of tobacco, in addition to good harvests in Malawi and Mozambique. Initial indications for the 2019 season are even larger. He says more cargo is moving through Beira as the shippers are avoiding South Africa due to the high rates of hijacking and theft.
Insurance companies are putting a risk premium on tobacco being shipped through South Africa, which raises the cost of using Durban. In response to the growing demand Transcom Sharaf is doubling its warehouse capacity with the building of a new 15 500-sqm warehouse next door to its existing facility. It will be one of the biggest free-standing buildings under one roof in Beira, according to Harvey.
The design includes a covered area for the loading and offloading of vehicles in order to keep working in all weather conditions. Once the warehouse is equipped Transcom will be one of the largest operators of Rhino Heli forklifts in Mozambique, according to customer liaison manager Justin Jahme.
The company has also added to its fleet of reach stackers to manage the surge in demand. Harvey says Beira has been able to handle the increased demand thanks to improvements in the port following the opening of a dedicated truck entrance and the deepening of the channel. Cornelder, the port operator, is also flexible.
“There have been times where we have delivered tobacco containers direct to the vessel from our facility. Fortunately, the tobacco containers are light and are loaded last, so we can move them at the last minute to minimise the dwell time in the port and the risk of crossinfestation,” says Jahme.
The new high-security warehouse, due to be operational in December this year, will be fully compliant with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code, which will give exporters direct access to the United States market. The multi-use facility will also be able to handle other imports and exports such as sugar, cotton, fertiliser and pigeon peas. Supporting the Beira facility are Transcom offices in Lilongwe, Blantyre (Malawi), Tete (Mozambique), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Durban.
Transcom is continuing to diversify its operations with the increase in demand by clients for imports, and recently handled the importation of 58 dump trucks and 18 excavators along with 800 FEUs of various imports mainly destined for Zimbabwe.
The busy Transcom Sharaf facility in Beira More cargo is moving through Beira as shippers are avoiding South Africa due to the high rates of hijacking and theft. – Guy Harvey
