Charcoal shipping to improve in 2022

ELLANIE SMITWINDHOEKThe shipping of charcoal from Namibia to Europe is expected to only improve next year, due to shipping lines that are struggling to get enough containers loaded on vessels for export to Europe. There has been a huge backlog at the harbours to ship South African products to Europe. Charcoal is seen as a low priority commodity and is only loaded on vessels if there is sufficient storageAccording to the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) the outlook for 2022 is therefore much better than 2021. “We expected record exports for our charcoal, but early indications are that the exports have slumped with at least 30 to 40%. It is still too early to provide accurate export figures.”Growing demandIt said that the demand for Namibian charcoal is growing internationally. ‘Sadly, we could not satisfy the market demand this year. We would like to thank the shipping lines, who under very difficult circumstances tried their utmost to support our industry.”The Namibia Charcoal Association (NCA) met with some of the shipping lines recently. “The situation with regard to shipping containers remains challenging and we expect the situation to improve in January 2022,” says the NAU. According to the union, they expect a new shipping line to join forces with the charcoal industry towards the beginning of March next year. It said the new shipping line will be able to move more containers in the long run than some of the existing major shipping lines.Laboratory services“The Industrial Laboratory Services (ILS) passed their external audit for accreditation, which is a huge step forward.”The NAU says that they now have 30 days to close some minor admin processes.After this is done, they need two months to prove that their process is running smoothly. During this period they are recommended for accreditation and should receive the final accreditation at the end of February, according to the union. “This means that shipping lines will be able to make use of this laboratory in Namibia. The NCA wants to congratulate ILS for this great achievement.”It further added that the MSC shipping line again had to postpone the training for the ‘proliner’. The proliner is a sleeve that fits into a container and with special equipment, all air can be sucked from the sleeve.This means charcoal is then no longer regarded as a dangerous product and transporters will be able to double their existing capacity as containers no longer have to be placed in one specific area on a vessel.According to the NAU the proliner training is expected to be conducted towards the end of January, depending on the travel restrictions imposed by European countries. The trainers will come from Europe.“We are also negotiating with yet another shipping line to use different routes for charcoal containers which should also bring further relief.”

Charcoal shipping to improve in 2022

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-07

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Charcoal shipping to improve in 2022

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-07

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