Müller moots Namibia-German ports cooperation
By Business Reporter
DR. Gerd Müller, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development who paid the Namibian Ports Authority a courtesy call and noted interest in forging cooperation between the Ports in German and the one in Namibia.
Dr Müller who was on an official visit to Namibia in response to an invitation extended to him by President Hage Geingob.
During a brief interview Dr Müller said, “We’re interested in developing export and cooperation, in particular cooperation with our ports in Hamburg and Bremen. We’re thinking about vocational training and obviously using that training to generate more business.”
His visit to Namibia was aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between Namibia and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Tino !Hanabeb, Executive: Commercial said that the Namibian Ports Authority looks forward to fully utilizing the newly commissioned terminal, along with the cruise passenger liner jetty.
“Albatros, which is scheduled to call the Port of Walvis Bay at Berth 9 on 18 October 2019, will be the first ever passenger liner to make use of the new state of the art terminal,” he said.
Offering direct access to main shipping routes serving international trade, the Port of Walvis Bay -the biggest commercial port in Namibia – has moved one step closer to serving its identified role as a regional hub in the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP).
Reducing dependency on the eastern ports in South Africa, Mozambique, and Tanzania, the recently inaugurated N$4.2billion new container terminal at Namport will ensure that management of container imports, exports, transhipments, and transportation of bulk and break-bulk cargos of various commodities will reach a whole new level.
While the old terminal which handled approximately 3,000 vessels and five million tonnes of cargo a year had already reached its maximum handling capacity and witnessing steady growth in freight traffic the new container terminal sits on 40 hectares of land reclaimed from the sea by China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) and now boasts of handling capacity of 750,000 containers per annum from its previous capacity of 350,000 containers.
Essentially, Namibia has now joined countries such as Australia, Brazil, Dubai and the Netherlands in the utilisation of reclaimed land for port expansion.