Economic conditions help balance trade

One of the positive outcomes

of the Chinese slowdown

is that exporters through

Mozambican

ports have had

to rekindle

or build

up new

markets

– and so

reduce their dependence on

a single trade, according to

Heinrich Els, country manager

of Safmarine Mozambique.

“The Far East, although

still the dominant trade in

and out of Mozambique,

has reduced volumes

substantially and we

are now seeing more

movement to and from the

Middle East and Europe,”

he says.

There is also a slightly

better balance of imports

and exports, with the export

market having decreased

by around 10% this year

and imports growing

in and through

Mozambique by

around 20%,

according to

Els.

With global

commodity

prices

decreasing,

Safmarine

has been

focusing

on getting

an increase in

agricultural cargo

such as pigeon peas

and sesame seeds.

Trial reefer shipments of

avocado pears out of Beira have

also proven successful.

Safmarine provides a

fortnightly

feeder service

between

Mozambique

and South

Africa.

The service

uses three

vessels linking

with the

AMEX (North

America) and

Saecs (Europe

and Med) services in Durban.

Safmarine’s Safari 3 service

rotates between Maputo,

Beira, Nacala, Port Louis, then

Toamosina in Madagascar and

Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia.

Safmarine Mozambique is

geared to grow its share of the

market through the quality of

service delivery

and the systems

it now has in

place, believes

Els.

Working

with Safmarine

offices in the

neighbouring

countries the line

is able to position

containers where

and when they

are needed.

By logging into Safmarine’s

site shippers have full visibility

of where their cargo is anywhere

in the world.

INSERT & CAPTION

Trial reefer shipments

of avocado pears out

of Beira have proven

successful.

– Heinrich Els