T he J&J Group’s Lusaka depot is undergoing a complete makeover. “The only thing left from the original yard will be the borehole,” says J&J Africa Group country manager for Zambia, Oscar Gutierrez. Access to the J&J facility is also being made easier by the upgrading of the link to Kafue Road, which is one of the main arterials joining the capital to the rest of the region. Investment in the facility is a vote of confidence in Zambia and the region. “Zambia is very well positioned to serve as a logistics hub for its neighbours,” he says. Trucks registered in Zambia can link Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa without breaking the third country rule which states that foreign-owned trucks may not pick up cargo en route in the transit country unless it transits through its country of registration. “Being in the middle we have the option to serve all the neighbouring countries in the region,” he says. Ongoing investment by the Zambian government in the road infrastructure is making the country more competitive and attractive for logistics hubs. The whole facility is also being paved, and security is being upgraded. “We will have three sections,” says Gutierrez. Visitors and workers will enter through a new gate, where the office block and other facilities are isolated by security fencing from the vehicle staging, warehousing and container storage areas. “There will be a pure trucking section with its own entrance,” he adds. A new workshop will be built in the trucking section to service the fleet. The trucking area will also be fenced off from a new warehousing and container yard, which will have a third entrance, he says. “We will be incorporating our systems and warehouse expertise from Beira,” he says. The J&J Africa Group has its own warehouse and integrated transport management systems, which allow customers to log in to track cargo and manage their administration with the group.
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Zambia is very well positioned to serve as a logistics hub for its neighbours. – Oscar Gutierrez