Walvis Bay earns its stripes in critical JIT operation

Leonard Neill WESBANK TRANSPORT of Namibia came to the rescue of Botswana's HMB automotive plant when its production lines came to a halt recently due to a shortage of key components. "They were in a tight spot but the rapid handling systems at Walvis Bay harbour and the ability to transport emergency items rapidly to the factory in Gaborone showed once again the value of the Trans Kalahari Highway," said transport consultant Bo Giersing. When the USAID-funded RAPID programme, which is promoting single document transit procedures along the highway, contracted Giersing to assess its performance, he elected to adopt a hands-on approach and join a trucking operation travelling along the route. A call went out from HMB, which produces wiring harnesses for Audi and Opel cars for export to Europe, for emergency supplies of components, including terminal blocks. The factory does not keep large stocks of components because of frequent changes in specifications. The supplies arrived in Walvis Bay on board the container vessel 'Purple Beach' on a Saturday evening. They were offloaded and customs documents completed within a few hours. Walvis Bay can handle more than 25 container moves per hour. By 08:00 on Sunday four Wesbank interlink highway trucks were loaded and started the journey. By 19:30 on Monday, less than 48 hours after being offloaded from the vessel, the critical components were being fed into the stalled production lines in Gaborone. Although Gaborone is 400 km closer to Durban than to Walvis Bay, it was decided to ship via Walvis Bay which saves four to five days sailing time from Europe. Without delays in the Namibian port, it meant the Botswana factory was up and running again in rapid time. The Trans Kalahari Highway is currently being used as a pilot for the new SADC customs documentation process, using the RAPID programme. The objective is to introduce a single customs document for goods moving throughout the SADC region. For this particular trip, customs clearance and border formalities on both sides of the Botswana/Namibia border took a half hour to complete, says Giersing.