Maize and fertiliser contracts squeeze truck capacity to Zim

ALAN PEAT GROUPAGES TO Harare in Zimbabwe have been steady in spite of the lack of vehicles due to the maize and fertiliser contracts on the go at the moment, according to BP Freight MD, Peter Loram. “We are also running daily consolidations in Gaborone, Botswana,” he said, “and we can collect cargo for export from Durban or Cape Town as well as our Johannesburg base.” Also, BP’s consolidation rates have remained stable in spite of transporters’ rates going up substantially because of this higher demand for trucks to carry maize and fertiliser. A worry of the moment noted by Loram is that transporters are currently facing a severe problem in road cargo movements to Malawi. “The reason,” he said, “is that the flooding and heavy rains in Malawi have ruined the crop which is normally exported from Malawi to SA. “Now the transporters are not willing to run with cargo to Malawi as they do not have anything to transport back to SA - so therefore they lose money by coming back here empty.”