July- August 2012 - Walvis Bay Corridor Group

The leading trade route in southern AfricaJuly—August 2012IN THIS ISSUE:Connecting Brazil with the Walvis Bay CorridorsNamport sets record in TUEsReducing bottlenecks along the Walvis Bay- Ndola-Lubumbashi-Development Corridorand more….

Note from the Editor…………………….……………………………………..………..3Connecting Brazil with the Walvis Bay Corridors...………….....………..….……4Namport sets record in TEUs…………………………………………..……….…..…5Reducing the bottlenecks along the Walvis-Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi-Development Corridor………………..…………………………………...………….…6The Divundu Bridge Construction Completed…………..………...……………….7Wellness Service on the move…………………………………………………….….8WBCG Head OfficeTel: +264 61 251669Email: marketing@wbcg.com.naJohannesburg, South AfricaTel: +27 11 2588912Email: bdm@wbcg.co.zaLusaka, ZambiaTel: +260-21-241329Email: wbcg@coppernet.zmLubumbashi, DRCTel: +322 386 5109Email: bdm@wbcg.cdSão Paulo, BrazilTel: 55 11 5044 7701Email: ricardo@wbcg.com.br2 The leading trade route in southern Africa www.wbcg.com.na | e-Corridor July—August| 2012

NOTE FROM THE EDITORThe Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG ) has actively engagedin awareness creating opportunities to portray what excellent benefitsthe Walvis Bay Corridors have to offer. The commitment fromour members both from the public sector and the private sectorand team of the WBCG has enabled the WBCG to become a pivotalrole player in facilitating trade along the Walvis Bay Corridorsconnecting these trade routes to the rest of the world and SouthernAfrica.Container Liner Operators ForumMunicipality of Walvis BayIn this issue, we bring you news on our presence in Sao Paulo,Brazil at the Intermodal South America Transport & Logistics TradeFair; Namport ’ s record achievement in TEUs; feedback on theWalvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Technical Committee meeting held;on the completion of the Divundu bridge; and on activities engagedin by the Wellness Service.Ministry of Works and Transport:Department of TransportMinistry of Finance:Department of Customs and ExciseMinistry of Trade & Industry:Namibia Investment CentreMinistry of Home Affairs and Immigrations:Department of ImmigrationWe welcome our readers to provide us with continuous newsfeedsand to forward any comments and suggestions you may have thatcan add further value to the e-Corridor newsletter.AgnethaAssociated Members:Vanguard Rigging ( South Africa )Africa Route Clearance ( South Africa )World Market Freight ( Zambia )M-Trans ( Botswana )Africa Union Cargo ( Pty ) LtdThe leading trade route in southern Africa www.wbcg.com.na | e-Corridor July—August | 2012 3

CONNECTING BRAZIL WITHTHE WALVIS BAY CORRIDORSFor a second time in a row, theWalvis Bay Corridor Group( W BCG ) has presented theWalvis Bay Corridors, through thePort of Walvis Bay, as the preferredtrade between South America andsouthern Africa and to attract Brazilianexporting companies to establishWalvis Bay, Namibia as a distributionhub for southern Africa, inSao Paulo, Brazil.The WBCG participated at the 18 thIntermodal South America Transport& Logistics Trade Fair, which is the2 nd biggest logistics fair in the world,with the objective to assess export/import opportunities, to interest newmarkets to the Walvis Bay Corridors;and to expand the distributionnetwork. Participation at the tradefair was a resounding success, as aresult of many new customer contactsas well as the overall satisfactionof the visitors at the WBCGstand. What many of the visitorsextremely welcomed was that theWBCG is the smartest businessintelligent program to develop theeconomic trade for southern Africa.Company visits and individual meetingsto shipping lines and transportoperators, following the trade fair,were also embarked upon, focusingon key areas such as business developmentand transport facilitation.To increase business presence inBrazil, the WBCG established a representationoffice to focus on establishingand maintaining key businessrelationships with the transportcommunity to enhance the utilisationof the WalvisBay Corridors using the Port ofWalvis Bay.Connecting Brazil with southern Africathrough the Port of Walvis Bayoffers considerable benefits to importersand exporters as a result ofthe short sailing time that potentiallyexists between Brazil and the Portof Walvis Bay. Various commoditiessuch as frozen chicken, meat,equipment, furniture and other consumablesare currently being importedfor Angola, Botswana, Zambia,Zimbabwe and the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo.4 The leading trade route in southern Africa www.wbcg.com.na | e-Corridor July – August| 2012

NAMPORT SETS RECORD IN TEUSThe Namibian Ports Authority announcedthat they moved a record of300 000 containers in one year. Thisis a remarkable milestone that thePort of Walvis Bay and the Port ofLuderitz has achieved, which sets thetone for continued efficiency and reliabilityin service.This milestone presents an opportunityto remind potential and existingimporters and exporters that the location,efficiency and the option as anentry and exit point is undeniably thereasons why the Port of Walvis Bay isa port of choice for the region.The majority of the cargo tonnagesare destined for Angola, Botswana,South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.The Walvis Bay Corridors through thePort of Walvis Bay gives potential andexisting importers and exporters moreoptions to connect with the marketsglobally.In addition to the Port ’ s robust performancein containerised cargo tonnage,the Walvis Bay Corridorsthrough the Port of Walvis Bay alsonoted an increased growth in vehicles.Approximately 700 vehicles arebeing discharged on a fortnightly basis,destined for Angola, Botswana,Zambia and Zimbabwe. This increasein Ro-Ro cargo emphasisesthe importance that the Walvis BayCorridors play as important corridorsin global trade.With the strong support of shippingconnections between the Americas,Europe, the Far East and the MiddleEast and Southern Africa, through thePort of Walvis Bay, the Walvis BayCorridors continues to attract increasedtraffic, through time and costsavings offered to potential and existingimporters and exporters along theWalvis Bay Corridors, allowing themto receive their cargo faster.This is evidently a significant year forthe Port of Walvis Bay as increasedrevenue leads to an auspicious economicfuture for Namibia.The leading trade route in southern Africa www.wbcg.com.na | e-Corridor July –August| 2012 5

REDUCING BOTTLENECKS ALONGTHE WALVIS BAY-NDOLA-LUBUMBASHI DEVELOPMENT CORRIDORT he 6 th W alvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor( W BNLDC ) Technical Committeemeeting of the public and privatesector officials from the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Republic of Namibia and the Republic of Zambiawas held on the 15 th to the 16 th ofAugust 2012 in Walvis Bay, Namibia.The objectives of the meeting was todiscuss the WBNLDC action plan inorder to resolve the bottlenecksaim of the WBNLDC initiative is toreduce the cost of doing businessamong the member states. He furtheradded that by reducing the bottlenecksand challenges along thecorridor, it would promote the economic development of the memberstates. He further stated that theGovernment of Namibia through theWalvis Bay Corridor Group aims atdeveloping the WBNLDC from atransport corridor into a preferredbeen reached along the corridor andexpressed their commitment to fullyachieve intended objectives to ensuringthat all the corridors become asuccess.The achievements recorded on thecorridor thus far, include the extensionof VISAs duration for drivers, allthe member states along this corridorhave electronic weighbridges,the construction of the dry port forRepresentatives from the DRC, Namibia and Zambia who attended the meetingalong the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor and to discussthe way forward in addressing thesebottlenecks.At this meeting, MrJohny Smith,CEO of the Walvis Bay CorridorGroup ( WBCG ) stated that thetrade route for neighbouring countriesin the SADC region.The Governments of the DemocraticRepublic of Congo ( DRC ) , fromthe Republic of Zambia and the Republicof Namibia said that they appreciatethe achievements that haveZambia has been completed, theconstruction of a bridge at Katima-Mulilo across the Zambezi river, customsrelated issues, increase in trafficalong the corridor, and the openingof an office in Lubumbashi.Continued on page 7………...6 The leading trade route in southern Africa www.wbcg.com.na | e-Corridor July-August| 2012

……..continued from page 6It was also briefed that Namibiacompleted a feasibility study to constructa railway line from Grootfonteinto KatimaMulilo border withZambia. Zambia appointed a privatecompany from South Africa toconstruct a railway line from KatimaMulilothrough Zambia to DRC.It was also mentioned that Zambiaintends to construct a railway linefrom Livingstone to KatimaMulilo.The Walvis Bay Corridor Group iscurrently hosting the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi DevelopmentCorridor Technical Committee,which is a Public Private Partnershipbetween the Governmentsresponsible for transport of theDRC, Namibia and Zambia to addressthe bottlenecks that impedethe flow of traffic along theWBNLDC using the Port of WalvisBay.THE DIVUNDU BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION COMPLETEDThe construction of the DivunduBridge has been completed, whichwas fully funded by the Governmentof Namibia to the value of N$19million. The bridge forms part of theWalvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi DevelopmentCorridor ( WBNLDC )that is the only means of crossingthe Okavango River to the NorthEastern part of Namibia.Prior to the construction of thebridge, it was a single lane, whichposed as a bottleneck for heavyand abnormal cargo between Namibiaand neighbouring countries.Often, abnormal loads were transportedfrom Zambia and Malawithrough Botswana to Walvis Bay,which resulted in an extended transittime.With the newly strengthened andwidened bridge, it will lead to anincrease in traffic with regard to abnormalloads along the WBNLDC,into Zambia and the DRC, making itmore viable to use this trade routedue to the shorter transit times.From Walvis Bay to Zambia, thetransit time is from 3 to 4 days andfrom Walvis Bay to the DRC it ’ sabout 5-7 days on average.The bridge thus plays a pivotal rolein enabling the imports and exportsof goods between Southern Africaand the rest of the world, along theWBNLDC.The leading trade route in southern Africa www.wbcg.com.na | e-Corridor July-August| 2012 7

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