T he official launch of the new Walvis Bay container terminal has sparked fresh interest in the Walvis BayNdola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor (WBNLDC), according to James Kaposa, the business development manager for the Zambian market of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group. It has helped overcome the perception that Walvis Bay is just a fishing harbour – a belief that has been hard to change, he says. “Now the message is out that it is a fully fledged commercial port.” The result is that more shippers are moving trial runs along the corridor to test its efficiencies and costs. Volumes are growing, and a number of role-players are working together to establish dry ports to optimise the use of the existing rail infrastructure in the region ahead of the lines in Zambia and Namibia being extended to join at the Katima Mulilo border post. Kaposa says road haulage costs are coming down due to a combination of competition on the corridor and greater diversification of cargo, which ensures there are paying loads both ways. The granting of permission to Walvis Bay to handle ammonium nitrate has helped support northbound volumes. “We are also starting to see fertiliser coming through the port,” he says. More space has been freed in the port of Walvis Bay to handle fertilisers because the container yard has been moved to the new terminal. Storage and blending facilities are being planned for the port. The opening of a new road and rail bridge at Kazungula will also give road hauliers another route and entry point along the corridor. The bridge is where Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia meet. Truckers will cross between Namibia and Botswana at Ngoma which is 72 kilometres from the border. Kazungula is about 70 kilometres from Ngoma.
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More space has been freed in the port of Walvis Bay to handle fertilisers. – James Kaposa