Walvis Bay well positioned as a gateway to Africa-Brazel trade

Walvis Bay has positioned itself as the first port of call for the growing trade between southern Africa and Brazil. “It will take a ship about seven days’ sailing time between Santos, which is the main port in Brazil, up to Walvis Bay, hence offering a considerable benefit to importers and exporters in terms of time savings,” says the Walvis Bay Corridor Group’s (WBCG) Agnetha Mouton. Trade between Brazil and Africa has grown to US$27.6bn in 2011 from US$4.3bn in 2002. Commodities going through Walvis Bay and the Namibian corridors include frozen chicken, meat, equipment, furniture and other consumables destined for Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Mouton. Brazilian trade with Africa is being driven by what the New York Times has called a “charm offensive”. With 33 African embassies, Brazil has the largest concentration in the southern hemisphere. In return, the country has 37 embassies in Africa – up from 17 in 2002. Africa and Brazil are described as “natural partners” in a report produced jointly by the Capacity Development and Partnership Unit of the Africa Region at the World Bank (WB) and the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA). It says Brazil and Africa are natural partners with strong historic and cultural links. Complementing these links, Brazilian technology seems to be easily adaptable to many African nations because of geophysical similarities in soil and climate. “In order to increase Namibia’s business presence in Brazil, the WBCG established a representation office to focus on establishing and maintaining key business relationships with the transport community to enhance the utilisation of the Walvis Bay Corridors using the Port of Walvis Bay,” says Mouton. “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. “With South Africa now also belonging the Brics economic block, it also provides an economic opportunity to Namibia to serve as an alternative gateway for the Gauteng province due to the shorter trade route that it offers to importers and exporters between Southern Africa and Brazil,” she says. CAPTION Agnetha Mouton … alternative gateway for the Gauteng province.