Mining activities keep Walvis pumping

The Port of Walvis Bay has
seen much growth in recent
years with an increase of 38%
in the movement of bulk and
breakbulk commodities and
nearly 100% growth in the
container industry.
According to Christian
Faure, marketing and strategic
business development
executive for the Namibian
Ports Authority, this has
been largely based on the
mining activities in the region
that form the core business
through the Port of Walvis
Bay.
“We have only been
operating a container terminal
for the past ten years and
in that time we have grown
from a base of nothing to a
situation where we are now
peaking at 265 000 TEUs,
which is the equivalent of
about 2.5 million tons. Yes,
we have had some serious
growing pains during this
time, but we are extremely
proud of the achievements we
have made.”
Faure said essentially the
port had developed from a
purely breakbulk port to a
fully fuctioning multi-cargo
facility showing phenomenal
growth despite a global
economic recession.
“We are operating in the
same arena as some very
established ports like Africa’s
biggest ports – Durban and
Cape Town – where efforts
are under way to increase
capacity. In Luanda much
progress has been made to
address congestion, while the
Port of Maputo has improved
tremendously in recent years.”
Faure said as a port
authority they acknowledged
the importance of all the ports
in southern Africa as well as
the challenges they needed to
overcome from a Namibian
perspective.
“The reality is this, just
Angola’s trade with China
is some $11 billion while
Namibia’s entire GDP is
$11 billion. We will never
have the trade capacity to
make full use of the port
– only 20% of what goes
through the port is destined
and comes from Namibia.
That is why we focus so
heavily on the corridors.”
Faure said the port was
actively working towards
increasing capacity and
efficiency to ensure it
attracted more regional trade.
“We have just completed
a R240 million terminal
optimisation programme
entailing a new quay,
two mobile cranes and an
extended quay for more
storage that has all allowed us
to attract more business.”
The port is also more
efficient than ever before,
now averaging some 43
moves per vessel per hour
with the mobile cranes.