Walvis Bay dry port on road to full capacity

SENIOR Government officials have visited Zimbabwe’s Walvis Bay dry port in Namibia to ensure that it is operating at  full  throttle to facilitate regional trade and boost local industries.

President Mnangagwa officially opened the dry port in 2019 as part of the government's initiative to boost economic growth by increasing Zimbabwe's access to global markets. It was built on land that the Namibian government granted to the Zimbabwean government.A strategic entryway to the Atlantic Ocean and convenient access to markets in North and South America, West Africa, and Europe are offered by Zimbabwe's Walvis Bay dry port.

This week, Engineer Joy Makumbe, Permanent Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure Development, led a group to Namibia to investigate strategies for boosting trade through the Zimbabwe Dry Port.In an interview, Eng Makumbe stated that the Ministry was investigating ways to capitalize on the synergies between the Airports Company of Zimbabwe and the National Handling Services. The President of Namibia, His Excellency Cde Dr. ED Mnangagwa, issued the call to action on this dry port. Therefore, the dry port located here in Walvis Bay is not only significant to Zimbabwe's economy, but also to Namibia and Zimbabwe's positive diplomatic ties.

We therefore need to see more activity here, which is why we are here to ensure that this dry port is equipped.I accompanied a delegation from the Airports Company of Zimbabwe and the National Handling Services, who are directly responsible for initiating activities at the port, to this dry port. As a ministry, we are currently examining how to take advantage of the synergies that exist across the government's parastatals.National Handling Services and the Airports Company of Zimbabwe are two parastatals that fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development.

Accordingly, they are taking advantage of existing synergies to ensure that they collaborate in outfitting the dry port," the speaker stated. In order to ensure that the decisions made are operationalized, the delegation had multiple meetings in Namibia and will hold further ones there. Air Zimbabwe will also be involved, according to Eng. Makumbe, as they are investigating ways for the airline to airlift cargo from the dry dock. In addition, the delegation went to the dry ports in Zambia and Botswana as part of a benchmarking study.