‘Phenomenal’ development offers huge opportunities in Mozambique

Since establishing a presence
in Mozambique in 2005,
Sturrock Shipping has
transformed from an exclusive ship’s
agency representation based only in
Maputo to a service provider that
now comfortably offers the entire
logistics package in the ports of
Maputo, Beira
and Nacala.
Recently the company opened
an additional office in Goba on
the Mozambican, South African
and Swaziland border, in order to
increase its footprint and broaden
its horizons. “This expansion is
in line with the Group’s vision
to be globally recognised as the
leading ship’s agency, clearing and
forwarding and logistics company in
the sub-Saharan African region,” says
Alan Bremner, director of Sturrock
Shipping Mozambique.
“The company’s success is a
function of being well positioned,
expertly staffed and technically
equipped to handle projects as and
when they come along,” he
told FTW.
He notes that Sturrock Shipping
Mozambique is taking on more
project cargo agency work and
also gearing up its clearing and
forwarding division in order to
provide its customers with fullservice
logistics solutions.
“Mozambique is just waiting to
explode and the development taking
place in the country is phenomenal.
The achievements are all the more
impressive, taking into account that
the country came out of a protracted
civil war just over a decade ago.
It is not without its challenges,
however. One of these is storage
limitations which have resulted from
the significant increase in the volume
of petroleum movements,” says
Bremner.
A further challenge, according to
Bremner, concerns the Mozambican
customs and excise law. Despite
these challenges, he says that
Sturrock Shipping is confident that
the country will continue to provide
opportunities.
“It is important to have in place
people who understand the laws
and pitfalls and who are able to
communicate these accurately and
concisely to clients who may not
always be familiar with the lie of the
land. We understand Mozambique,
its systems and its laws and can
therefore provide customers with a
one-stop shop that allows them to
concentrate on doing what they do
without having to be concerned about
these details,” he concludes.