Warehouse congestion in Walvis Bay has been one of the most pressing issues since the port’s new 750 000-TEU container terminal started throughput in August 2019, but Reload Logistics believes it has a capacity edge in Namibia’s transit-cargo market.Its storage facility of 3 500 square metres, said warehouse manager Joël van der Waal, had given the distributor a strong foothold in a port that can quickly fill up, with cargo owners and agents often scampering to find space.What’s more, the fast-growing company is looking at additional storage in the near future in Walvis Bay and beyond. “We’re well established in Zambia and have decided to expand out west towards Walvis as we knew from the start that warehousing would have to be the foundation of our presence in Namibia .”Van der Waal added that space at the port was a challenge as Walvis Bay was fairly small, despite lots of available land out in the desert.“But we managed to secure premises that have become a good drawcard for shippers since we entered the Namibian market in 2021.”As for Reload’s principal freight portfolio, Van der Waal said: “We carry bagged sulphur and industrial chemicals going north to the mines in the Copperbelt, and copper anodes and cathodes on the back-haul towards Walvis Bay.“We also do project cargo such as heavy machinery and the like, once again meant for the mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and often truck explosives such as ammonium nitrate into the Copperbelt.”The latter required a special operation, with lots of planning around policed logistics, adding to Reload’s fast-growing appeal as a go-to, secure distributor, he said.Thanks to rapid success on the Namibian haul into the Copperbelt, the company is now also looking at introducing softer commodities for back-haul logistics.Said Van der Waal: “We’re already taking soft commodities from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi out to some of the other ports we service, and are thinking of doing the same out west to Walvis.”He also praised the “high efficiency” of Namibia’s port operator, and said Reload was looking forward to strengthened cooperation with Namport in the future.“Walvis Bay port is more efficient than Durban, for example. Their container shunting is highly efficient because the port itself is relatively free of congestion and fast-moving, thanks to quick handling.”
