Fuel hikes drive up cost of transport

LINER AGENTS for Mediterranean
Shipping Company (MSC),
Global Logistics is benefiting
from the overall growth in the
Zambian economy with import
volumes up by 70%, according
to managing director Marcel van
Vlaanderen.
Fuel price hikes are however
affecting the cost of transport in
the region, making it difficult to
predict accurately real costs on
import container traffic – it can
take anything up to 45 days from
quotation to the container being
received in Zambia, says
Van Vlaanderen.
He estimates that since the
middle of 2007 the cost of moving a
container from Europe has increased
by approximately 25%, with road
freight rates from South Africa to
Zambia having increased by 50% in
South African rand over the
same period.
Copper export volumes have
grown with new mines coming on
stream – and this, along with the
strength of the kwacha, is adversely
affecting export volumes of nontraditional
exports such as cotton
and tobacco. The kwacha has
appreciated from ZMK 3850 to the
dollar in January 2008 to
ZMK 3180, with levels as low as
ZMK 2500 being predicted.
“Traditionally everything was priced
in dollars to hedge inflation, but
with operating costs such as salaries
in kwacha, and revenue in dollars,
companies are starting to feel the
pinch,” he said.
The growth in the economy has
created numerous opportunities for
Global Logistics. Although it has nine
offices throughout the country with
more than 120 staff, it needs to grow
to meet increased demand – but
with the rising
costs in Zambia this is proving to be
fairly challenging, Van Vlaanderen
said.
“As a company we are committed
to Zambia and have already made
substantial investments in the
country. We are also generally
optimistic and believe that there is a
window of opportunity over the next
10-15 years to take advantage of the
overall growth in import and export
volumes and develop even further.”