'Milkman approach' not feasible for Africa

A milkman approach to
servicing ports in Africa is
extremely difficult due to the
numerous challenges faced by
shipping lines on the continent,
said James Lewer, line manager
for Safmarine’s SAFWAF
Service.
Speaking at the annual
Breakbulk conference in
Johannesburg recently he said
the South Africa-West Africa
(SAFWAF) trade route offered a
wide geographic spread of ports.
“Servicing such a wide
range of ports with the delays
experienced makes it very
difficult to take a milkman
approach,” he said. “Throughput
drives the model and without
it the routes simply become
unsustainble. The f low of
cargo and
the required
throughput
that is just not
being reached
make it often
very difficult –
and that affects
how we service
these ports.”
Ralf Franke,
general
manager
for projects,
oil and gas as well as marine
logistics for southern Africa at
Kuehne+Nagel said shipping
breakbulk cargo from one
African port to another could be
extremely challenging at times
and sometimes it was easier
to ship from South to West
Africa via Europe than to do so
directly.
Gerald Hagemann, director
business development at
Meihuizen International
explained that the current market
conditions
were further
impacting
the situation,
especially in
the African
breakbulk and
project cargo
sector.
“The oil and
gas industry
over the past
ten years has
generated a
lot of project cargo and we have
now seen a significant drop in
volumes,” he said.
Napo Ramodibedi, CEO of
Mendi Maritime, explained that
this ultimately just resulted in
even less throughput.
“A lot of breakbulk cargo is
dependent on industrialisation
of one form or another. We
have seen some real spikes in
volume when it comes to the
oil and gas sector, but with the
drop in crude prices and with
exploration projects having
come to a near standstill on the
back of it all, the challenges are
significant. There are real limits
on the cargo volumes and then
there is the lack of connectivity
and limited frequency, all
leading to increased costs.”
INSERT & CAPTION 1
Throughput drives the
model and without it the
routes simply become
unsustainable.
– James Lewer
INSERT & CAPTION 2
A lot of breakbulk
cargo is dependent on
industrialisation of one
form or another.
–Napo Ramodibedi
INSERT & CAPTION 3
The oil and gas industry
over the past ten years
has generated a lot of
project cargo and we have
now seen a significant
drop in volumes.
– Gerald Hagemann