Joining the dots between DRC and Walvis Bay

Increasing numbers of importers and exporters are using the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor (WBNLDC) in order to reduce total logistics costs, according to Andrew Sinyangwe, Zambia business development manager for the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG). It takes an average of four to five days for cargo to move the 2 690 kilometres between Lubumbashi and Walvis Bay. “Volumes have been affected by a cut-back in mining activity in Zambia, but the indications are that the traffic will be back to normal in the third quarter of 2015,” he says. The diversification of the Zambian and Democratic Republic of Congo economies is also having a positive impact. New transport operators have started operating on the route and are helping to drive down costs through increased competition. “The cargo mix is continually evolving,” he adds. It now includes cement, maize, sugar, timber and even aluminium pots made in Zambia and exported to West Africa. Having a WBCG office in Lusaka is helping shippers to “join the dots” on the route between Zambia and the DRC and Walvis Bay. “Our job is to facilitate trade along the route. We are not involved in any of the financial transactions between the different companies that we introduce to each other,” he says. Sinyangwe is confident that developments in the port and a new road being built in Zambia will see volumes continue to increase. The opening of a new container terminal in the port of Walvis Bay in 2017 will both improve efficiencies in the port and free up additional land for transit shipments. Work is progressing well on a new road in the west of Zambia which will cut 400 kilometres off the DRC-Walvis Bay route. Further support is coming from the Namibian government, which is positioning the country as a logistics hub for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). INSERT & CAPTION The diversification of the Zambian and Democratic Republic of Congo economies is having a positive impact. – Andrew Sinyangwe