“With signs of the Zimbabwe economy stabilising combined with general trends of a more liberal economic environment and increased access to foreign credit, Damco believes that the new office in Harare will play a central role in offering Zimbabwean and regional customers much better commercial opportunities and added flexibility,†said Damco in a statement. This includes cargo consolidation and a number of combinations of rail/road, break-bulk/ containerisation to and from the ports of Durban, Beira, and Maputo.
According to Nils Havsager, Damco’s regional manger for Africa, the expansion into Zimbabwe is a natural part of Damco’s offering to customers, and with increased logistics activities anticipated in Harare, Damco also expects Zimbabwean importers and exporters to benefit from competitive rates due to increased volumes.
“We provide sound, local forwarding and supply chain management expertise combined with a global network, and Harare plays an important part as a logistics hub for neighbouring countries,†says Havsager.
“An example could be minerals out of Zambia, which are typically transported as break-bulk on trucks down to Durban because of the insufficient container availability. By using Harare as a logistics hub, we can now help our customers transport their break-bulk by truck from Zambia to Harare, containerise the cargo and then use rail as a cheaper means of transport out to ports of Beira, Maputo, and Durban,†explains Havsager.
