Walvis Bay is establishing itself as an export gateway for breakbulk copper.
In the second shipment of breakbulk copper, over 8 500 metric tons of copper cathodes destined for the port of Panama City were loaded on board the Unisea, a general cargo vessel with a deadweight capacity of 9 862 tons.
Walvis Bay has been handling containerised copper for some time, but this is the second breakbulk shipment.
The copper cathodes are from the Mopani Copper Mine in Zambia and were transported to Walvis Bay by road, according to the Namibian Ports Authority.
Elias Mwenyo, executive: commercial services, says shippers are making use of breakbulk to overcome the shortage of containers.
With Namibia’s ports being strategically located along the West Coast of Africa and supplemented by the country’s excellent road infrastructure, which is rated number one in Africa, the country continues to play a leading role in the facilitation of trade via its transport corridors serving hinterland markets within SADC, he says.
