The Walvis Bay Corridor Group promotes the utilisation of the Port of Walvis Bay, the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, the Trans-Caprivi Corridor, the Trans-Cunene Corridor, and the Trans-Oranje Corridor and serves as a facilitation centre and one-stop shop coordinating trade along the Walvis Bay Corridors and linking Namibia and its ports to the rest of the southern African regions.
“The downturn in the global economy has reduced the growth prospects during the past year, especially on the South African market. Compared to other corridors and ports in the region, volumes continued to grow during the past year, although the growth is lower than expected,” said Johny Smith, Business Development Executive at Walvis Bay Corridor Group.
According to Smith, the Group’s main challenge has been to change the mindset of people on convincing them to use the Port of Walvis Bay as an alternative port. The people do not believe that Walvis Bay has enough capacity to handle their goods. It has proved that with the advantages of the Walvis Bay Corridors that many clients has realised that Walvis Bay provide the preferred trade route to Southern Africa, he said.
“We have to ensure that there is enough capacity in terms of relevant resources, infrastructure and equipment to sustain long term growth and development in the transport sector. Cargo along the Walvis Bay Corridors through the port of Walvis Bay has grown from 282 031 tonnes to 548 082 which is more than 94% tonnage as compared to the previous year 2008,” he said.
Smith also said that the Group is currently hosting corridor management institutions that oversee the operational issues that could adversely affect trade across the borders. The institutions are the establishment of the (Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor Committee)WBNLMC and the Trans Kalahari Corridor Secretariat.
“ The WBNLMC is aimed at facilitating trade along the TransCaprivi Corridor, linking Namibia with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while the Trans Kalahari Corridor Secretariat oversees  the day to day administration and operations of the agreement under the Trans Kalahari Corridor Management Committee (TKCMC) leadership,” he said.
According to Smith, the Namibian road infrastructure has one of the best road networks in southern Africa, and because of this, the Walvis Bay Corridors is the preferred trade route in terms of using road, to transport goods beyond Namibia. Roads Authority as a member of the WBCG ensure that roads are well maintained and that the development of new roads receive attention for the growth in trade in the short, medium and long term, he said.