Walvis Bay positions as Brazilian hub

Walvis Bay is competing head on against Cape Town and other West African ports to position itself as the Brazilian distribution hub for southern Africa. Brazilian exports to southern Africa include frozen chicken, meat, equipment, furniture and other consumables to Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A delegation representing the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) recently participated in the 17th Intermodal South America trade fair in Sao Paulo, Brazil as part of a marketing drive in the South American country. “More than 25 countries participated at this event and the WBCG established links with many transport and logistics companies, not only based in South America, but also other parts of the world,” says marketing and communications officer Agnetha Mouton. Standard Bank economists Simon Freemantle and Jeremy Stevens predict that Brazil’s trade with Africa will reach 2008 highs of US$28 bn in 2011, and climb to US$55 bn by 2015. The message the WBCG delegation took to exporters and logistics companies in Brazil was that “Namibia, through Walvis Bay, offers the shortest trade route between SADC and South America and therefore it provides significant opportunity for current and future trade between SADC and Brazil as well as other countries in South America. “It takes a ship about seven days’ sailing time between Santos, which is the main port in Brazil, up to Walvis Bay and therefore offers a considerable benefit to importers and exporters between Brazil and southern Africa,” says Mouton. With the addition of South Africa to the BRICS economic block, it also provide an economic opportunity to Namibia to serve as an alternative gateway for the Gauteng Province in South Africa due to the shorter trade route that it offers to importers and exporters between Southern Africa and Brazil, she added. South African trade with Brazil is expected to grow, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.