Construction of the Walvis Bay Port new container terminal in Namibia, set to place the country as a regional hub and gateway to international markets, has kicked off.
According to the African Development Bank Group, 85% of expansion works have been completed with ancillary activities to follow. The project includes the construction of a new container terminal on a 40 ha of land reclaimed from the sea.
Walvis Bay Port new modern container terminal is expected to increase the container handling capacity from the current 355,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to up to 1,005,000 TEUs. This will lead to more and sustained trade between the South African Development Community and the rest of the world.
The US $300m project, supported by the AfDB, aligns with the Namibian Government’s ambition to increase the capacity and efficiency of the Walvis Bay Port to respond to the growing freight demand in the region.
Additional capacity will lower the transport costs of goods purchased in Namibia and neighbouring countries, representing some 14% of the total cost compared to an international standard of only 5%.
The African Development Bank will also finance the purchase of up-to-date port equipment and training for pilots and operators at the new terminal. The project financing also includes a grant to finance the Logistics and Capacity Building component.
The component activities include the preparation of the National Logistics Master Plan study, technical support and capacity-building for the Walvis Bay Corridor Group, and training freight forwarders with a particular emphasis on female staff. Fifty one people have been trained and graduated in April 2018, 24 of whom are female. This has spurred discussions on similar training.
The construction of the new container terminal which will be located on Africa’s western coast is due for completion in June 2019.
