Beira port built for Malawi, three others

Malawians’ perception of the Indian Ocean’s port of Beira needs to change and begin to understand that the facilities there were not only built for Mozambique but also its four neighbouring countries, including Malawi, a port official has said.

The port of Beira is the nearest channel to and from the world markets for the neighbouring and landlocked States of Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) compared to Durban in  South Africa and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

From Blantyre and Lilongwe, Beira port is at a distance of 812 kilometres (km) and 950 km respectively

This could effectively make it the cheapest route to the sea for Malawi because of its short distance as Durban in South Africa is 2 323 km from Blantyre and 2 678 to Lilongwe while Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is 2 031 km from Blantyre and 1 667 km from Lilongwe.

Felix Jamie Machado, sales and marketing manager for Cornelder de Mozambique (CdM), a company which was given the concession to operate the port’s major container and general cargo terminals, said among the four countries, none of them is given priority.

“Any consignment or container doesn’t have a country name. There is also no indication for any priority for goods destined for Mozambique, except frozen consignments which are given priority,” he said.

Machado cited an incident in which the Mozambican government was in a dilemma on what to prioritise between frozen consignment and fertiliser, and the authorities there settled for the former.

He assured the business journalists under the Association of Business Journalists (ABJ) who were on a tour of the port on Thursday under the sponsorship of National Bank of Malawi (NBM)  that what is required is for the documentation and receipts showing that payments are in order.

“Sometimes freight forwarders and middlemen play their games,” he said, suggesting that they delay the process for reasons best known to them.

For example, Machado said Malawi’s exports can stay at the port for 17 days without pay compared to 12 days for imports before they are cleared and if they exceed the allocated days, a charge of $20 (K 7 600) per day is levied on the consignment.

“We understand the idea of an inland country. We don’t want to kill them,” he said, adding that more free days on exports are aimed to encourage the countries to export more.

The port of Beira was in the spotlight two years ago at the height of fuel shortages which Malawi authorities blamed on congestion at the port.