WBCG builds capacity ahead of next upturn

Regional economic challenges
have been transformed into
opportunities to build capacity
along the Walvis Bay Corridors
ahead of the next upturn, says
Walvis Bay Corridor Group
(WBCG) chief executive officer
Johny Smith.
Volumes through the port
of Walvis Bay and along the
corridors have been affected by
factors such as the decline in the
oil price in the case of Angola,
and copper and related mineral
prices in the Zambian and
Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) Copperbelt.
This has given the WBCG and
its partners time to craft a new
five-year strategic plan and to
build capacity.
“Our new strategy for 2016-
2021 remains focused on
building Namibia into a logistics
hub for the SADC region,” he
says.
“We are leveraging the
opportunities created by
cross-border capacity in
transportation services as we
create better platforms for the
partnerships needed to make
the corridors the routes of
choice for regional importers
and exporters.
“Each of our markets has
great potential and we are
working together as an industry
to build a bigger and stronger
business for the long term.
“We are investing in the
infrastructure and capacity
that matter to our customers in
every market segment,” he says.
CAPTION
The R60-million !nara namib Industrial Estate in Walvis Bay is designed
to support the vision of transforming Namibia into the SADC’s logistics
hub. It will house warehouses for the storage and export of value-added
commodities as well as back office support operations.