BUSINESS REPORTER
The Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) says corridor volumes rose by half to 2,464,123 tonnes in the financial year 2022/23 from the previous year despite a drop in volumes from Zimbabwe.
“Corridor cargo volumes entering and leaving the hinterland increased by 50% year on year, climbing from 1,639,510 tonnes to 2,464,123 tonnes. These are the volume throughput recorded for the ports of Walvis Bay and Lüderitz, going to and coming from the target markets of Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia as well as Zimbabwe,” the WBCG said.
Volumes to and from Zimbabwe dropped to 73,936 tonnes from 98,157 tonnes.
The best performance was shown by the Botswana market with the growth of 285%. This was mainly due to new commodities introduced such as the sugar import from Brazil, coal and copper concentrate exports, the WBCG said.
It said the South African market grew to 1,093,569 tonnes from 771,852 tonnes. This was driven by manganese export from the Hotazel area near Upington in the Northern Cape through the port of Lüderitz, the WBCG said.
The DRC and Zambian markets grew by 33% and 40%.
Mbahupu Hippy Tjivikua, WBCG chief executive officer said the significant growth of corridor volumes was testimony “that our business development initiatives and trade facilitation efforts are making an impact in the target markets”.
“This is a result of team efforts between ourselves, Namport and all the relevant stakeholders along the supply chain. Moreover, the clients in these markets are increasingly finding our trade routes very efficient and safer,” Tjivikua said.
Last year, the WBCG has entered into a strategic partnership with Bak Logistics in which the two parties seek to drive volumes on the import and export of goods from Zimbabwe via the Namibian port.
