CONTAINER MANAGEMENT for into-Africa transport is a hideous exercise, according to Mahesh Ranchod, chairman of Afri-Haul Transport.
With in-going goods almost all containerised for security reasons, and bulk/breakbulk commodities coming out, balancing north and southbound container movement is a considerable problem, he added.
His own company experiences this at its worst in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and to an extent in Zambia.
In the DRC, Ranchod told FTW, there is very little coming out that can be containerised - mostly breakbulk. So there's an abnormal build-up of containers there. It's somewhat the same in Zambia.
A problem of containers in - and sugar, cotton and copper coming out.
Zimbabwe is relieved of this problem, Ranchod added, because its in-going containers can be backloaded with tobacco exports for a large part of the year.
The problem for road transporters is that they carry the responsibility for returning the shipping lines' containers to a specific destination. And it's not often easy to find return cargoes bound for the same spot or due to sail with the container-owning line. The vice-versa also exists, said Ranchod. Those with cargo bound for a specific destination often struggle to find a box similarly scheduled.
This raises a distinct need for some sort of general container allocation facility in both Zambia and the DRC. That, said Ranchod, should be a container brokerage type of operation - mixing and matching cargoes, containers and shipping lines.
With that, the major headache of balancing boxes on the overborder runs could be cured, he added.
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