Botswana is seeking interested vehicle importers in South Africa to leverage off its automotive component of 300 parking bays at the country’s 36 233-square-metre dry port facility at the Port of Walvis Bay.According to dry port manager Derick Mokgatle of Searail, the Botswana Railways subsidiary responsible for running the facility, they’re ideally placed for imports into South Africa, using the Trans-Kalahari Corridor (THC) connecting Walvis with Gauteng through Botswana.Part of the reason for his optimism that Searail will succeed in securing automotive market share through its dry port and the TKC is the speed with which cargo passes through its western border at Mamuno into Namibia.“ Tr uck s wait on average 15 to 20 minutes before they move on – that’s how good efficiencies are at that crossing,” Mokgatle said, addressing a TKC-hosted business presentation in Kempton Park recently.To Botswana’s south-east, where TKC traffic passes into South Africa, effective Customs and clearances contribute to a smooth f low of freight, he said.“Our dry port at Walvis was actually designed as a car terminal with excellent roll-on roll-off (ro -r o) s e r v ic e benefits.”For the time being Botswana’s only dry port outside its borders – they have three other similar facilities in Gaborone, Palapye and Francistown – already handles cars from the UK destined for Botswana itself, Mokgatle added.“But we’re also in the process of talking to stakeholders in South Africa interested in importing cars from Japan using the TKC.”The ability to handle scaled-up volume, Mokgatle argued, was also underscored by the success with which the dry port had handled a bulk consignment of material required for a bridge built across the Okavango River in 2016/17.“It comprised 10 000 cubic metres of cargo that was transported on 280 trucks from Walvis Bay. It was a massive undertaking that arrived on one vessel, was directly off loaded at the port and moved to our facility where it was stored before it was transhipped to Botswana .”Intentions to ramp up ro-ro volumes are also not the only growth objective on Searail’s agenda for its Walvis Bay facility.It’s looking for investors interested in helping Searail develop a cold storage facility for beef, fish and other perishable product exports.
INSERT: We're seeing steady growth of more than 100% year-on-year. – Derick Mokgatle
