Namibian hauliers and logistics companies have a vested interest in seeing rapid uptake of electric vehicles in Europe.
Growing demand for the vehicles is already seeing more copper going through Walvis Bay in order to meet the physical demand for the metal, according to Andre van der Walt, founder of Swakopmund-based A van der Walt Transport.
“Namibia offers the shortest route from the Copperbelt to Europe. Our company alone has been allocated 5 000 tons of copper a month, and we are confident this will grow,” he says.
There is also growing demand for the export of containerised ore, and it seems that investment is returning to the region. “We are getting lots of enquiries for project cargo. There are some big projects in the pipeline,” he says.
An increase in south-bound cargo is being balanced by the shipment of containerised paper and chemicals to the north by shipping companies providing through bills of lading services.
“The feedback we are receiving is that all our clients are impressed by the quality of the service on the corridor and by the port, which is the only one in the region that is not congested,” he says.
There are challenges, however. One is border delays which affect truck productivity – and which, in turn, add to the costs being borne by the hauliers. Most truck operators believe that the current rates are too low for the services to be sustainable over the long run, he says.
“Transit times through the Congo border post are around three days, with queues of two to three hundred trucks. If one truck in the line has a breakdown then everyone is delayed even further,” he says.
Truckers operating on the route have set up a WhatsApp group to share information on delays and conditions at the border posts and on the roads. This allows them to re-route if necessary during the rainy season or if there are disturbances on the routes.
At present there is no road maintenance in the south of Zambia, and some of the roads are in a very poor condition.” Van der Walt sees lack of spending on infrastructure and border delays as being bigger problems than corruption on the routes.
“If those challenges aren’t addressed urgently then trucking companies will have to increase their rates in order to survive,” he says.
