PUBLISHER: Freight News (www.freightnews.co.za)
In an attempt to help remedy delays at the Lebombo/Ressano Garcia border on the N4 highway towards the Port of Maputo in Mozambique, the South African Association of Freight Forwarders and Minerals Council South Africa have recommended the following six interventions:
- Urgent, intentional, focused, and conciliatory bilateral engagements at the highest level of government to address the failure to address underlying tensions.
The latent antagonism between South Africa and Mozambique at an operational level constitutes a significant barrier to trade and, ultimately, leads to additional costly delays, a deterioration of services to the users on both sides of the border post, and an overall inability to align with regional integration imperatives.
- A 24-hour One-Stop Border Post (OSBP), with round-the-clock operations, is a priority.
The operating hours of the border, 06h00 to 22h00, are inadequate to deal with the volume of port-bound minerals in transit. There are between 800 and 1 200 trucks using the Maputo Corridor daily, depending on the market pricing cycle.
The border operating times do not match the 24-hour operation of the Port of Maputo. Without synchronised landside logistics, the port will not reach optimal efficiency, and the cost of short shipments and/or demurrage for vessels waiting in port for cargo at US$60 000 (R968 000) per day, is untenable.
The Lebombo/Ressano Garcia border post must operate 24/7. This has been an ongoing discussion for more than 14 years, following the heads-of-state agreement for this in 2007.