WINDHOEK – The Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) recorded a commendable increase of 19 percent of twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers shipped and 33 percent of TEU’s that landed at the Port of Walvis Bay in the month of September 2019 when compared to September 2018. These were the remarks of Namport’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kavin Harry, during the Annual Port Users function held in honour of the entity’s clientelé last week Friday.
The function was attended by more than 100 stakeholders in the maritime fraternity, with the aim of appreciating all those who made use of the port’s facilities in 2019. At the same function, awards were conferred to various entities in different categories such as the top five revenue-based clients, top three volume-based clients and top three SMEs for 2019 at the Port of Walvis Bay.
The top five revenue-based clients at the Port of Walvis Bay for 2019 were (in no particular order) Maersk Namibia (Pty) Ltd, Woker Freight Services (Pty) Ltd, Trade Ocean Shipping Namibia, Logistics Support Services (Pty) Ltd and Sturrock Grindrod Maritime (Namibia).
The top three volume-based clients were Walvis Bay Salt Refiners (Pty) Ltd, Engen (Pty) Ltd and Puma Energy Namibia (Pty) Ltd while the top three SMEs at the Port of Walvis Bay for 2019 were Cross Border Vehicle Traders, Faida Trading & Clearing as well as Zephyr Investments.
Speaking at the glamorous event, Harry commented that 2019 has been a year of tremendous growth for the port as “we witnessed the official inauguration of the New Container Terminal. This great investment requires us as an entity, with your cooperation, to promote our port to overseas potential investors in order to ensure that Namibia, through the Port, becomes the Port of choice”.
Harry also reiterated that as an entity, Namport is focused on efficiency, not only through service delivery, but also with its systems and equipment and is in the process of developing a green port policy as the first step towards positioning the Port of Walvis Bay as a flagship port providing sound stewardship and management of the environment.