King & Sons finalises stevedoring acquisition

2006 WAS a record year for King & Sons Namibia, according to branch manager Reinhardt Küsters, with several new developments pumping up performance. Mitchell Cotts Maritime Namibia was appointed agent for Hapag Lloyd in the Namibian region. The line currently calls Walvis Bay on a monthly basis northbound to the US east coast and Montreal. “Base loads are uranium oxide from Roessing Uranium and Langer Heinrich Uranium, but we are also accepting general cargo on this trade – containerised and breakbulk,” he said. This year saw the finalisation of K&S Namibia’s acquisition of a 49% stake in Erundu Stevedores. “This allows us to become more self sufficient on the ship’s agency side with myself taking over as MD and Mahomed Kajee, GM of K&S South Africa, as director and chairman of the Erundu board.” Its Unitainer division also performed exceptionally well with the easing of the steel price and has in some months even outperformed ship’s agency, he told FTW. Kusters hinted at several new developments in the pipeline in 2 007 to be announced later in the year.