Lebombo port of entry reopened for cargo

SA’s Border Management Authority (BMA) announced at the weekend that cargo operations had resumed after the reopening of the Lebombo port of entry.

It said it was working hard with the SA Revenue Service (Sars) to clear the cargo backlog.

“The port is now open for cargo movement, after the Mozambican authorities managed to address challenges with their systems to facilitate processing through the Ressano Garcia port of entry into Mozambique,” the authority said.

“The initial reopening of the port was to manage the movement of persons but this morning [Saturday] the Mozambican authorities worked tirelessly to address cargo systems for smooth border processing.”

BMA commissioner Michael Masiapato said the restoration of the Mozambican systems “paves the way for the full reopening of the port and enables the [authority] and Sars teams to work diligently in clearing the current cargo backlog”.

On Friday afternoon, the authority announced it had concluded talks with the Mozambican delegation, which agreed to the partial reopening of the port and “reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring safe cross-border movement and trade to avoid further loss of revenue”.

This came two days after SA closed the port of entry — its main border crossing with Mozambique — due to violence on the Mozambican side of the border post, as protests against last month’s disputed election outcome turned violent.

At least 34 people have been killed since October 24 when ruling party Frelimo won a landslide victory.

EXTRA SECURITY

The full suspension of operations at the Maputo port is estimated to have cost SA’s economy R10m per day, R6m of which is direct losses to freight logistics companies, said Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association.

The impact on companies ranges from damages to and loss of vehicles, injuries to drivers, looting of loads and disruption of exports and imports, to the cost of deploying extra security. Added to this is the threat of losing business, as companies may be unable to fulfil their load agreements.

The remaining estimated R4m reflects the cost to other sectors, said Kelly, including servicing, manufacturing, tourism, retail, mining and agriculture.

This comes at a delicate time for SA, said Southern Africa Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) CEO Juanita Maree, with logistics and the supply chains already under pressure from other challenges.

“Infrastructure at the Ressano Garcia border post and the KM4 facility has been severely damaged, and ongoing violence threatens to cause further disruptions. Lives are being lost and livelihoods are threatened across the Southern Africa region,” said Maree.

Beyond the immediate threat to road freight operators, the SAAFF warned that the longterm economic impact of the crisis would extend beyond Mozambique to all other Southern African Development Community (Sadc) counties, in which suspended trade would raise the risk of economic setbacks — particularly in SA and Zimbabwe. The situation also put the fragile supply chains facilitated by the Maputo corridor, which require predictability to remain internationally competitive, at significant risk.

“To varying degrees, the implications of this crisis will have a long-term negative impact on all the countries in the Sadc region, as it will take time for traffic to and from the port of Maputo to stabilise and to restore to previous volumes,” said Maree.

“The loss of important infrastructure servicing trade and transport on the corridor will be felt for many months and even years, and places government coffers under enormous pressure for rebuilding and repairs to infrastructure, and replacement of essential equipment.

“Additionally, many essential jobs are now at risk, while the ripple effects for informal, small and medium businesses will be felt for some time. Business will limp forward into an uncertain future after this troubled, disruptive period.”

The SAAFF said the task of addressing the escalating violence must fall on Sadc, as the regional body in charge of trade, development and investment — but highlighted concerns from SA’s business sector over Sadc’s “slow response”.

“For Southern Africa to thrive as a unified, regionally integrated trading block, it must remain a reliable, competitive route and destination within the regional and global supply chains,” said Maree.

“To achieve this, it demands immediate consultation with apex bodies in the region, and the assurance that the leadership will address and confront the challenges affecting business in general due to the conflict and logistics specifically. The disruption to the logistics activities cannot be allowed to continue, as it is a primary and critical enabler of economic growth and fiscal revenue in this region.”