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Naval ships Continued from page 1 The topic was under discussion this week at the 22nd annual meeting of the Standing Maritime Committee of the Inter-State Defence and Security Committee, on which all naval forces of SADC are represented. According to Captain Christopher Moshoeshoe of the Namibian Navy, one of the challenges is navies in Southern Africa have been experiencing problems with foreign-built vessels in that these ships differ from country to country where it is manufactured and spare parts often take months to be delivered in the events of breakdowns or where parts need replacement during maintenance and upkeep. Moshoeshoe is of opinion that a common platform is one type of vessel/ship that will be used throughout SADC. The vessel could be built in South Africa and Namibia or any other SADC country who manufacture and supply spare parts. “If you are operating in Angola or Mozambique and it so happens the vessel breaks down, you don't struggle to get the parts or carry out repairs, because we are all using one common spare part even though we are in different countries,” Captain Moshoeshoe explained. The topic of a common platform is not only in the interest of better practises within the armed forces, but could also be a major step in the right direction to attrack industrial and manufacturing activities pertaining to the security and defense industries to Southern Africa. The navies could start the process with smaller classes of vessels and elaborate the program to eventually cover all naval type ships required by the SADC navies.
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Captain Christopher Moshoeshoe
26 FEBRUARY 2016
Abnormal load cargo volumes through port of Walvis Bay growing
The Port of Walvis Bay continues being a dominant logistics hub in southern Africa, having seen an increase in imported goods to the value of N$5.1 billion in the first quarter of 2015. Vehicles unabatedly continue to dominate imported goods, with more than N$2.7 billion spent on imported vehicles in the first quarter of last year, preceded by the importation of boilers and machinery to a combined value of N$2.4 billion. Other goods transported via the Walvis Bay route last year included tanks, fire trucks, harbour cranes, crushers, and excavators. This information was revealed by the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) in a media statement on Tuesday. The WBCG was established in 2000 to promote the utilisation of the Walvis Bay Corridors, which is a network of transport routes principally comprising of the Port of Walvis Bay, the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor, the Trans-Cunene Corridor, and the Trans-Oranje Corridor. The statement noted that part of the strategic initiative for the current five-year plan for the WBCG includes connecting southern Africa to the rest of the world in order to facilitate the growth of abnormal and project cargo through Walvis Bay. “The Port of Walvis Bay has over the past year acquired a number of mobile cranes to support
the multipurpose dimension of cargo handling, while we have seen more abnormal truckers exploring Walvis Bay as a faster and safer entry route into the Southern African Development Community,” read the statement. Craig Pace, the director of international specialised transport and plant installation company Vanguard, was quoted in the statement saying the presence and availability of heavylift facilities makes for greater efficiency, especially in terms of the timeous discharging of ships, lower mobilisation costs and quicker access to the quayside. “As mineral shipments through the Port at Walvis Bay from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia increases, this port is likely to become an important node for southern Africa, hence the upgrade of our facilities,” said Pace. Heavy-lift port facilities remove the necessity for road permits or abnormal clearances, which make it a more efficient process for customers. Meanwhile, WBCG Chief Executive Officer Johny Smith proclaimed that the port has attracted more interest in the transportation of abnormal loads in southern Africa. (NAMPA)