SWAKOPMUND - Zambia was the biggest importer and exporter in terms of cargo via the Port of Walvis Bay during the period April 2017 to March 2018.

 Zambia accounted for nearly 60 percent of total volumes of containerised transit cargo imported via the Port of Walvis Bay during the said period.  

This is according to the Namibia State of Logistics Report of 2018 that was presented on Tuesday to the logistics sector by Logan Fransman, the director of Namibian German Centre for Logistics.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) accounted for 26 percent of imported cargo followed by Angola with 10.4 percent.
According to Fransman, Zimbabwe on the other hand had 39.7 percent of imported dry-bulk cargo transiting via the Port of Walvis Bay, closely followed by Zambia at 39.1 percent. Malawi at 10.5 percent, Botswana 7.1 percent and DRC  three percent.

Zambia also accounted for 51.8 percent of all inbound transit cargo via the Port of Walvis Bay in 2017 and 47.9 percent in 2016.

 “Zambia’s exports comprising mostly of copper and wooden products and accounted for 85.7 percent of total outbound transit cargo that was 72.5 percent in 2016,” he explained during his presentation.

He added that Zambia also had the lions’ share, 91.2 percent of containerised exports, followed by DRC with 52.9 percent of total break-bulk cargo transiting via the Port of Walvis Bay.

Zimbabwean exports on the other hand represented at least 30.8 percent of the break-bulk transiting via the port, followed by Angola 8.7 and Botswana with 3.2 percent respectively.

The report also states that cargo from Botswana overall are quite low, but remains optimistic that the situation could significantly improve with the opening of the Botswana Railways dry port facility at Walvis Bay. Cargo flow to countries such as Angola, Congo (Brazzaville), Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique are also generally quite low, and can be considered as random flows according to the report.

 “The trade link to Zambia seems to be stable and in terms of volumes currently the most important one for Walvis Bay,” Fransman said.