Swazi king pushes for more dry ports

James Hall
MBABANE Ð King Mswati last week dedicated the expanded Inland Container Depot at the Matsapha Industrial estate 25 kilometres east of Mbabane, and said he wanted to see at least three more dry ports in Swaziland to boost the kingdom's industrial sector by facilitating shipping.
The king told Gideon Mahlalela, CEO of Swaziland Railways, who is also president of the South African Railway Association (SARA), to open dry ports in Swaziland's two remaining regions, Hhohho, where Mbabane is located, and the southern Shiselweni region, where an industrial park is opening near the provincial capital Nhlangano.
The Republic of China provided R8 million to rehabilitate the nine year-old facility, which Mahlalela described as the dry port complementing the ocean port at Richard's Bay, the primary destination for goods shipped from Swaziland. The Swazi government contributed R800 000. Chinese Ambassador George Chang noted Taiwanese garment manufacturers located at Matsapha depend on the dry port to ship goods to overseas markets. Several Taiwanese firms have opened in the kingdom to take advantage of favourable trade benefits from the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunities Act and the Generalised System of Preferences, which allows Swazi goods to enter American markets duty free.
The most notable improvement at the dry port is a R4 million Fantuzzi Reach Stacker, imported from Italy, which lessens by 75% the time required to unload cargo containers."