Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Growing the number of clients for salt supply beyond the traditional African market, Walvis Bay Salt Refiners (WBSR) will soon export its first vessel of salt to the United States of America. WBSR, which is part of the wider Synchem Group, loaded 50,000 tonnes of salt onto the M/V Condor vessel at Namibia Ports Authority (NAMPORT) from Thursday till yesterday.
After years of intense marketing in North and South America, WBSR secured its first shipment of salt, loaded for supply to the US. After analysing the international salt export market, the company recently invested in expanding its production capacity. WBSR’s Managing Director, Andre Snyman, highlighted the company completed the salt field expansion programme in 2016, which increased annual production from 700,000 tonnes to about 1 million tonnes.
Added Snyman: “After several visits, we are proud to announce that the first shipment of about 50,000 tonnes is currently being loaded and earmarked for the US East Coast.”
Salt is used in various applications such as water treatments and chemical plants. It is however quoted by the Salt Institute that there are currently more than 14,000 known uses of salt.
Being the largest salt mine in sub–Saharan Africa, WBSR enjoys economy of scale benefits in its production processes. However, Snyman confirmed that WBSR will remain mindful regarding the ever-increasing customer demands in terms of differentiated product specifications, hence the company is consistently looking at ways to improve its production efficiencies; and the quality of the product they supply to clients. The company is ISO 9001 certified.