Tag / Namibian Port Authority

by Mike Poverello

Namibia’s New Container Terminal – 76 % Complete

project-walvis-bay-container-710Namibia’s 344 million U.S. dollars container terminal currently under construction in its coastal town of Walvis Bay is 76 percent complete, the Namibian Port Authority (Namport) said Thursday.

According to a statement issued by Namport, the contract is on schedule for completion of most of the works at the end of 2018 with minor works to be completed early 2019.

One of the major components of the projects is the commissioning of four new Ship Container Cranes (STS), making it the first time that these cranes will be deployed in the port of Walvis Bay.

Namport has to date made use of mobile cranes to load and offload containers from vessels.

The 4 STS cranes are expected to arrive from China on February 10, 2018.

The project which commenced in May 2014 with the contractor being China Harbor Engineering Company Limited will have a throughput capacity of 750,000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) per annum.

The new port will also be connected to the existing port’s road and rail networks as well as communication systems. Source: Xinhuanet 2018-02-01

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by Mike Poverello

Comesa chips in with $1,4m for ZIM dry port in Nambia

Walvis Bay - making headway (www.transportworldafrica.co.za)

Walvis Bay – making headway (www.transportworldafrica.co.za)

The Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa has agreed to avail US$1,4 million for phase one of the construction of the country’s Walvis Bay dry port. The government of Namibia in September 2009 granted Zimbabwe 19 000 square metres of land to construct its own dry port that is expected to boost the country’s trade. The project is being spearheaded by the Road Motor Services, a subsidiary of the National Railways of Zimbabwe.

In an interview, RMS managing director Mr Cosmos Mutakaya said the Ministry of Industry and Commerce last month held a consultative meeting with Comesa to strategise on how to fund the project.

“Comesa is looking at funding projects with a regional integration element that countries within the Southern African Development Community would benefit from. In the last meeting we held, Comesa indicated their willingness to finance the first phase of the facility which will cost US$1,4 million,” he said.

He said all the relevant documentation had been submitted and they are now waiting for a response from Comesa.

Mr Mutakaya said construction of the dry port would be done in two phases. The first phase involves the civil works which includes construction of the drive-in weighbridge, storage shades, palisade fencing as well as installation of electric catwalks. Phase two involves the putting up of administration blocks. He said once phase one is completed, then the dry port operations will start.

“We are now waiting for the unlocking of funds from Treasury and Comesa for us to start construction. The Namibian contractor, Namport, will also start working on the port once the funds are made available. According to the contractor, phase one of the project is going to take five working months to complete,” Mr Mutakaya said.

He said the project, which was supposed to have been completed by May this year, had been stalled by the lack of funding.

An official at the Namibian desk office in the Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that operations at the port had stopped for a while due to a lack of funding. “Government has been facing challenges in making payments to the Walvis Bay Corridors Group, responsible for the construction at the port and operations had to be stopped for some time pending clearance of some outstanding fees by Government,” he said.

Trade for Zimbabwe via Walvis Bay has increased for the past few years and a large percentage of commodities are transported along this corridor. Zimbabwe’s trade volumes through the Port of Walvis Bay have grown significantly to more than 2 500 tonnes per month.

In a related development, the Namibian Ports Authority is also working on expanding Walvis Bay port and recently secured a US$338 million loan from the African Development Bank to finance the construction of a new container terminal at Port of Walvis Bay. The Namibian government also received US$1,5 million for logistics and capacity building complementing the port project loan. Source: The Herald (Zimbabwe)

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by Mike Poverello

Walvis Bay Container Terminal – AfDB and Namibia sign loan agreement

NamPort ExpansionThe African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Namibia on Friday, November 8, 2013 signed a ZAR 2.9 billion (US $338 million) sovereign guaranteed loan to the Nambian Ports Authority (Namport) to finance the construction of the new container terminal at Port of Walvis Bay and a UA 1.0 million grant (US $1.5 million) to the Government of Namibia for logistics and capacity building complementing the port project loan. The project was approved by the AfDB Group in July 2013.

The project is expected to enable Namport to triple the container-handling capacity at the Port of Walvis Bay from 350,000 TEUs to 1,050,000 TEUs per annum. It will also finance the purchase of up-to-date port equipment and the training of pilots and operators for the new terminal. The grant component will fund the preparation of the National Logistics Master Plan study, technical support and capacity-building for the Walvis Bay Corridor Group and training of freight forwarders.

According to the AfDB Director of Transport and ICT, Amadou Oumarou: “Through this project which potentially serves up to seven major economies in the SADC region, the Bank is assisting in the diversification and distribution of port facilities on the southwest coast of Africa, and provides the much-needed alternative for the region’s landlocked countries.”

The project will stimulate the development and upgrade of multimodal transport corridors linking the port to the hinterland while improving the country’s transport and logistics chains. It will also boost competition among the ports and transport corridors in the region with the ripple effect on reductions in transportation costs and increased economic growth.

The projected project outcomes include improvement in port efficiency and increase in cargo volumes by 70% in 2020 as a result of increased trade in the region. The benefits of the project will include among others, the stimulation of inter-regional trade and regional integration, private sector development, skills transfer and most importantly employment creation, leading to significant economic development and poverty reduction in Namibia, and the SADC region. Source: African Development Bank

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by Mike Poverello

Ambitious Port Plan for Walvis Bay

 

Computer-generated imagery of what the Walvis Bay North Port will look like when built. Image courtesy Namport.

Computer-generated imagery of what the Walvis Bay North Port will look like when built. Image courtesy Namport.

Far from simply developing a new container terminal, Namport could be bringing forward plans to build an ambitious new port at Walvis Bay to accommodate an expected increase in container and other traffic in the near future.

Originally intended as a long-term proposal for the Port of Walvis Bay, the plans may have to be brought forward and, coupled with finance that could come from China, the Namibian port is set to become a real rival for business in the southern and central African region.

According to reports in The Namib Times the cabinet has discussed and in principle given the go-ahead to create a new harbour on the northern side of the existing port. It said the new harbour is part of Namport’s strategy of positioning Walvis Bay as the premier port in the region. The plans will require dredging of a deep entrance channel and excavating the land to clear space for the new deepwater basin along with 10 kilometres of quayside for ships to berth.

If it was necessary to have proof that this development has the potential of shaking up the southern African region, it came in the form of a warning given yesterday by Transnet Chief Executive Brian Molefe at a community briefing session in Durban, in which he said, while justifying the need for the Durban dig-out port to go ahead, that if it was delayed or not built then Durban would lose out to other African ports. As an example he cited Walvis Bay where he said ambitious plans to build a large container port had been given the go-ahead. Source: Ports.co.za

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by Mike Poverello

Namibian Ministry of Finance angers clearing agents

Below is a situation which might have been avoided if trader registration/licensing was properly addressed by the Namibian Authorities. With the likes of SADC and COMESA encouraging the implementation of regional transit guarantees, trade operators need to clearly address their obligations and liabilities. Moreover, any suggestion of authorised economic operator (AEO) programme in the Southern African region needs to fully align its requirements with the standards being applied by other countries across the globe. It is therefore clear that no preferred trader scheme can be implemented across the Trans-Kalahari Corridor or across SACU if such disparities of knowledge and practice exist. While one might have compassion for possible job redundancies and the pleas expressed by certain clearing agents, they evidently do not understand the game they are playing in and will drastically need to redress their understanding of the role they play in the supply chain. International clearing and forwarding is not a game for sissies, or people who want to try their hand at a quick buck. A bold stance by the Ministry of Finance.

The Namibian Ministry of Finance’s decision to ban clearing agents from using guarantees and bonds from third parties as security to move goods has caused an uproar among clearing agents. The Deputy Minister of Finance, Calle Schlettwein, explained that the decision that became effective on July 26 was taken to protect the taxpayer. Clearing agents aren’t closed down, and neither are they stopped from using their own security to move these goods, he said. As from July 26, the agents are simply not allowed to use a bond or guarantee issued to another clearing agent as security for their goods in transit, the ministry said.

Before the clampdown, clearing agent A used to ‘borrow’ guarantees or bonds, backed by financial or other institutions from clearing agent B to clear any goods coming through Namport and destined for landlocked countries such as Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However, should a problem develop with agent A’s consignment, the guarantee or bond would be worthless to Government, as the financial institution agreed to back only agent B’s guarantee or bond. “We don’t know how or when the practice started, but it is illegal,” a ministry spokesperson said.,

Schlettwein said Government stood to lose out on duties and customs through the practice, and the taxpayers would have ended up having to pick up the tab. The ministry’s announcement was met with considerable protest from the smaller clearing agencies, claiming that they didn’t have the money or financial backing to secure the necessary bonds or guarantees. Nampa reported that 76 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating as clearing agencies at the coast have been affected. At the Oshikango border post and at Helao Nafidi in the North, 30 agencies with more than 100 employees are affected.

Regina Amupolo of Pride Clearing and Forwarding Agent has called on the ministry to urgently look into this matter, because many trucks with goods and containers are stuck at the Oshikango border post, Walvis Bay harbour or at other border posts. Their customers have already complained that they are losing business because of this, Amupolo said. Amupolo said most SMEs don’t have the money to obtain bonds or guarantees. She said ministry officials said anyone who wants a bond must have collateral of N$1,6 million. “We are small business people, trying to employ ourselves and some of our fellow men and women in our societies, but now the Government, the Ministry of Finance, is making things difficult for us. How are we going to make a living if the ministry is cutting off our jobs in this way?” she asked.

In a letter written to all clearing agents at Oshikango, the controller customs and excise officer, Festus Shidute, said the practice of using third-party bonds or guarantees posed a serious challenge to customs administration and control of guarantees in the event of liabilities by third parties. Amupolo and Rejoice Nangolo from Flora Clearing Agent said they have already paid N$20 000 to obtain a clearing licence, while they have to pay Namport another N$20 000. She said they are losing thousands of dollars as a result of this unexpected prohibition by the ministry and are demanding an extension to allow them to take the matter up with the ministry.

Nangolo said her business has branches at other border posts like Omahenene, Katwitwi, Ngoma, Wenela, Trans-Kalahari, Ariamsvlei, Noordoewer, Walvis Bay, Hosea Kutako International Airport and Oshikango. Her Angolan customers have threatened to stop moving their goods through Namibia and only to use their own ports, she said. At Oshikango there are only two big companies, Piramund and CRN, that can guarantee bonds and assist them as SMEs clearing their work effectively. According to Amupolo and Nangolo, they started with their clearing business in Oshikango in 2000 and were doing well until the ministry imposed the ban.

Speaking to Nampa, Lunomukumo Taanyanda of Oluvanda Clearing and Forwarding Close Corporation (OCFCC) said his company has been operational for two years and deals mostly with car consignments from countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) and Dubai.Before clearing the consignments, OCFCC has to declare the consignment at the Namport customs desk. However, before they can fill in a customs declaration form to clear the transit goods, the goods need to be secured and this is where the company (OCFCC) requires the assistance of third parties such as Wesbank Transport, Transworld Cargo and Woker Freight Services.

These smaller companies acquire assistance from bigger companies (the third parties) as they experience problems when trying to obtain their own bonds and guarantees. According to Taanyanda, it is a very costly and time-consuming process. “We agents do not have enough collateral for bonds, which start at N$350 000, and now the ministry has stopped us from borrowing bonds from third parties,” he said. Source: The Namibian

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http://www.namibian.com.na/news/marketplace/full-story/archive/2012/august/article/clearing-agents-want-answers-today/