Trucks queue as Tete bridge delays extend to three days

With queues extending up to five kilometres, and over three-days waiting to cross the Zambezi River some weeks, truckers are at their wits’ end. “There is a seriously weak spot in the vital link across the lower Zambezi River connecting up the major highway linking SA, south and north Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania,” according to John Wheadon, MD of Falcongate Logistics. This famous Tete Corridor provides a lifeblood of trade goods through the regions alongside its over 2 000-kilometre stretch connecting the Gauteng industrial powerhouse in the south to Mwanza on Lake Victoria in Tanzania in the north. The currently missing link is the one-kilometrelong Tete (Samora Machel) Suspension Bridge, designed by Edgar Cardoso and finished in 1973 by the Portuguese, and a major transportation facility in the region. Wheadon told FTW: “The misery and queues still continue at Tete, the capital city of Tete Province and the site of the suspension bridge, with trucks still waiting up to three days to cross the Zambezi River. “Excessive traffic, not envisaged when the bridge was built in the early 1970s, has led to cables breaking,” according to the Maputo daily Noticias. But a lack of cash (not even enough to pay the workers) and a lack of urgently needed equipment and materials, means that only a ‘patchup’ job is being done – on a bridge that desperately needs new cables fitted. In the past couple of weeks there has only been intermittent use of one of the two lanes of the bridge. In normal times, between 600 and 800 trucks cross the bridge every day, so the current situation is long queues of vehicles at either end of the bridge. Wheadon, producing a bunch of photos he took on the spot, noted that there was now one working ferry across the river. But the second had been launched too high on the bank – and needed to wait for the river to rise before it can operate. “The best time to use the ferry,” Wheadon added, “is from 10:00 to about 15:00. In the mornings from 06:30 to10:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00 in the afternoon and evening are very congested with cars and trucks.” He also pointed out that there was a price list on a board at the gate entrance for the use of the ferry. “We pay US$75 to transit the Tete Corridor each way, plus US$25 for the bridge,” he said. “Now we must pay again to cross the Great Zambezi on a ferry. Does not seem fair to me.” Work on the bridge is still moving slowly forward, Wheadon added. “The board indicates that this will be finished on December 10. However, rumour has it that it may extend to end January 11. “We now have the added problems of thieves – who now see some nice pickings with all these trucks as sitting targets carrying food stuff, fertiliser and other items to steal in the night. “The drivers are too scared to sleep and rest as they will lose diesel, goods and their place in the queue!”