The drop in commodity
prices has had a
significant impact on
cross-border volumes,
according to Louis Coetzee,
Namibia corridor operations
manager for Maersk Namibia
(including Safmarine).
He said they expected to
see lower volumes passing
through the Port of Walvis Bay
– particularly on the Trans-
Caprivi corridor, serving Zambia,
southern DRC and Zimbabwe –
because a shift in the outbound
export flows had negatively
impacted the return import flows.
“We are at present seeing an
overall slowdown in cross-border
import flows with no signal
of recovery in the short term,”
Coetzee added.
Looking at the total corridor
market – including the Trans-
Cunene (serving Angola up to
Lubango) and the Trans-Kalahari
(serving Botswana and Northern
Cape) corridors – in 2014, he said
there had been marginal growth
in import corridor volume, with
stronger growth on the export
corridor.
In addition, he said the
Namibian Maersk team was not
seeing the domestic trucking
supplier landscape developing
at a pace that enabled a costcompetitive
environment. This, in
turn, was putting more pressure
on landside activities to make the
corridor(s) economically viable.
According to Coetzee, Maersk’s
primary focus at this stage is on
the Trans-Caprivi and Trans-
Kalahari Corridors.
And he said that the single
largest challenge for Namibia
(and the port of Walvis Bay) was
the ability to offer a safe, reliable
and cost-competitive product
(door-to-door).
“We have noticed, and continue
to see, significant investments
and improvement in the waterside
service, while the landside
infrastructure and trucking
supplier landscape has lacked the
scale and pace of development to
match this.”
He also noted the lack of rail
connectivity – possibly as a result
of cost.
“The lack of landside
investments,
particularly
in road
transport,
poses a
significant
threat to the
cross-border
business and
to making
Namibia
(Walvis Bay)
a feasible
gateway,”
Coetzee told
FTW. “It is
therefore
imperative
that all
stakeholders
in the supply chain work
together to ensure the corridor
is safe, reliable and costcompetitive.
In an effort to boost volumes
Maersk Line and Safmarine
Namibia were due to launch
a through bill of lading (TBL)
carrier haulage service this
month (March). This targets
northbound (import) cargo
moving cross-border and
selectively opens up the
southbound (export) corridor –
where it makes business sense
and adds value to the overall
supply chain, said Coetzee.
CAPTION
Louis Coetzee,
Maersk Namibia.
