Demand for rail and road keeps growing
KEVIN MAYHEW
GROWING ROAD and rail volumes have motivated Transnamib in Namibia to gear up its operations to meet internal and cross border trade demands. This includes the import of four new locomotives and rail fuel containers from China.
Transnamib is a company within the Walvis Bay Corridor Group which has been recognised as a “best practice trade and transportation facilitation network cluster” by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Marketing director Brian Black said the new locomotives - expected early this month (September) - would enable Transnamib to meet increasing demand for rail transport.
“We have absolute faith in rail and have experienced a healthy expansion of both rail and road transport,” he told FTW.
The fuel tankers will be used within Namibia and the locomotives in its rail activities internally and over the border in conjunction with its strategic rail partners like Spoornet in neighbouring countries.
Its road haulage capacity has been improved with the introduction of new super link vehicles.
Namibia is positioning itself as a viable alternative route to European and North American markets for SADC countries which have traditionally used Tanzania’s Dar-es-Salaam and Durban for international trade.
