Namibia’s port authority is well on its way to doubling the kind of terminal capacity at Walvis Bay harbour that in years gone by came perilously close to being outstripped by container box throughput. According to Elias Mwenyo, business development manager for Namport, Walvis handled 337 000 TEUs in 2012, almost
maxing out the port’s capacity of 350 000 TEUs. It was a good year for the port, but 60% of the volumes recorded back then were from transhipping goods further up Africa’s west coast. As port’s like PointeNoire and Lomé started coming on line with expanded capacity and efficiencies, Walvis Bay saw a sharp drop in volumes. Speaking at a presentation in Sandton recently, Mwenyo recalled that port improvements further north
of the former South African protectorate had slowed down the freight momentum. “We became a hub of logistics for other ports along the west coast but as they developed infrastructure and expanded capacity we saw a decline in transhipment throughput.” Thankfully a robust business plan to become a leader in logistics in the region and a will to make it work is steadily counting in Namibia’s favour as its premier port works to live up to the size its name denotes. As part of a massive container terminal expansion that started back in 2014, Namport last year took delivery of four state-of-the-art ship-toshore gantry cranes costing a
cool $9 million each. The early arrival of the cranes, a first for Namibia’s burgeoning ports industry, also stood as a kind of symbol marking the speed and success with which Namport and its affiliates were meeting their objectives. Another one of these blocks will be ticked come August 1. Provided all goes swimmingly, that will be the date Namibia officially commissions its new South Port Container Terminal. At a cost of $400 million, the engineering procurement construction (EPC) project
will herald one of the country’s biggest EPC initiatives undertaken since it gained independence from South Africa in 1990.
CAPTION:
Carriers told us that unless you can handle our vessels we won’t be calling at your ports. – Elias Mwenyo
