BR’s Gobabis dry port takes shape
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday June 27, 2022 06:00
The Gobabis dry port will be 120km from the Charles Hill border closer than the plus-1,000 kilometres to Walvis Bay, a difference that is expected to improve traffic volumes and make the project viable.
BR decided to build the additional port after establishing from customers that Botswana’s Walvis Bay dry port is far and not easy to re-direct traffic there.
BusinessWeek has established that a delegation from BR recently met with TransNamib, that country’s national rail services operator, to finalise plans regarding the Gobabis port.
Completion of the new dry port will see commodities from Botswana being transported by road up to Gobabis, then by rail to the Walvis Bay dry port and vice versa for imports bound for Botswana.
“Gobabis station will remain under TransNamib’s operations and Botswana Railways will use TransNamib’s services and facilities at the station. Botswana will also invest in the upgrading of the Gobabis station warehousing facilities,” a Namibian publication known as The Brief, quoted an agreement between the two railway utilities as reading.
The Brief quoted TransNamib’s communications manager, Abigail Raubenheiner as saying the company would soon resume train services between Walvis Bay and Gobabis and these would be used to grow volumes between the two rail entities over time.
“With TransNamib having recently signed a rail transport agreement with Namcor (Namibia state oil company) to move in excess of 3,600 tonnes of petroleum products per month for Namcor for a period of five years, the company is strategically positioned to service the Botswana market with fuel in addition to other commodities,” Raubenheiner said.
The latest developments are in line with a BusinessWeek revelation from three years ago that BR officials were exploring the establishment of a second dry port at Gobabis, to boost volumes along the key western sea trade route. Government initially built the P40 million dry port at Walvis Bay nine years ago as part of efforts to increase access routes for imports and exports to and from international markets, especially in Europe and the Americas. The Walvis Bay port was also designed to diversify Botswana’s trade routes away from a reliance on Durban, which has been troubled by congestion and strikes over the years.
The Walvis Bay dry port, which is adjacent to the Namibian port, is operated by Sea Rail, a wholly-owned BR subsidiary registered in Namibia. The dry port handles both the break-bulk and containerised cargo. It is a bonded facility adjacent to Namport in Walvis Bay and offers documentation, freight forwarding, cartage bonded facility, packing, unpacking containers RoRo vehicle storage, as well as container and break-bulk handling. It also houses the administration office, warehouse, car terminal, containers, as well as cold storage.
However, since its establishment, the facility has been struggling to attract customer volumes. Improvements such as an additional reefer station and an under-roof shed have recently propped up interest from clients across the region. Customers coming out of South Africa are increasingly using the reefer station as a staging facility for their reefer container imports into the Zambian and DRC market.
Reefer stations are warehouses containing bulk refrigeration facilities for housing perishable goods such as food and medicines.
Currently, the Walvis Bay dry port has anchor clients such as Botswana Defence Force, Gabcon, and many entrepreneurs who prefer it due to its efficiency.