‘We’re not in competition’
ALAN PEAT
THE PORT of Maputo in Mozambique should not be seen as competition to Durban port, according to Brenda Horne, CEO of the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative.
The reports that large companies (like Highveld Steel named in one daily newspaper report) are going to shift major export cargoes to Maputo, she added, is more media sensationalism than actuality.
“What we see is Maputo as a port for moving cargoes from the corridor area.
“Logic tells you that businesses along the corridor need the nearest port open to them.”
This is what the latest promotion exercise for the port and the Maputo corridor (FTW February 27, 2004) has been about.
But at no time can the initiative be seen to support press sensationalism about operations planning to move to Maputo, Horne added.
Every piece of logistics planning has to have all the alternatives routes open to it to achieve the maximum cost-efficiency on behalf of the shipper of the goods.
Press statements that a company will not use any specific SA port at anytime in the future, but intends to shift to Maputo, only closes doors to options required for day-to-day logistics planning, according to Horne.
“I look on such statements with scepticism,” she told FTW.”
