Impact of curfews on transport and logistics sector
HOSEA NEUMBO SHISHIVENI
It is the duty of the state to ensure that all citizens are protected from health threats such as Covid-19, but is the government doing justice to the transport industry and its major stakeholders? The countrywide curfew has slowed down freight haulage and pushed up transport costs.
Transport operators have been hit hard by Covid-19. With transit time significantly extended, operators across the country will have to face difficult questions for their future sustainability. The right response should plan for contingencies but never forget the value of transport operators in the process of economic development.
Curfews negatively affect freight and passenger transport operations. The consequences of the curfew are late delivery of consignments and services due to the prolonged lead time, which leads to unsatisfied customers and late arrival of passengers to certain meetings.
Curfew is hindering Namibia’s vision of transforming itself into an international logistics hub for the SADC region by 2025. On the 6 January I travelled to Rundu from Windhoek with Silas Ndapuka’s bus and obviously we could not make it there before 21:00, so we had to pull over at Mururani until 04:00. The same bus was going to continue its route to Katima Mulilo and up to Harare. During our time at Mururani we saw many cargo trucks parked alongside the road since they could not continue hauling due to curfew. I saw Zambian, Zimbabwean, and of course Namibian-registered trucks. The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi-Development Corridor is a busy route that connects Namibia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Th majority of Zambian and Zimbabwean trucks I saw were refrigerated trucks used for transporting temperature-controlled goods such as fish.
On 11 November 2020, I attended Transport Events’ webinar that was on ‘Namibia: Cargo and Transhipment Gateway for Hinterland and Landlocked Countries in the SADC Region’ that was sponsored by Namport. The CEO of the WBCG spoke in his presentation of the challenges they were struggling with. Border transit time was one of these challenges. If the curfew continues, chances are high that this challenge might be prolonged, making it difficult for WBCG to overcome it.
Most suppliers/warehouses dispatch inventories after hours, so if a particular company based in Windhoek is sending consignments to Oshakati after 17:00, does the government expect that company to arrive at Oshakati before 22:00? Customers expect to receive their orders on time; delivering customers’ goods on time keeps them happy and increases their desire to continue doing business with that supplier. The time that truck drivers spend idling on the sides of the roads or at roadblocks between 22:00 and 05:00 is increasing truck turnaround time, imposing extra costs on suppliers, something that all companies are trying to avoid during this time of Covid-19.
Curfew is undeniably preventing Namibia from aligning itself as a regional logistics hub, which in future will hamper the operation and performance of WBCG since it is still widely unknown how long Covid-19 will stay. In order to provide sufficient and efficient services to all SADC countries through Walvis Bay harbour, Namibia should exempt all transport operators from curfew and allow them to operate freely by handing over permits to each and every transport operator (freight or passenger).
Article 2.4 of the SADC protocol calls for the elimination or reduction of hindrances and impediments to the movement of people, goods, equipment, and services. This should apply to all member states within the SADC region. This shows the need to harmonise policies within the SADC region in order to enable the free flow of services and goods among member states.
Driving at night reduces traffic congestion, and allowing trucks to operate at night may help to decrease road accidents.
It is the duty of the state to ensure that all citizens are protected from health threats such as Covid-19, but is the government doing justice to the transport industry and its major stakeholders? The countrywide curfew has slowed down freight haulage and pushed up transport costs.
Transport operators have been hit hard by Covid-19. With transit time significantly extended, operators across the country will have to face difficult questions for their future sustainability. The right response should plan for contingencies but never forget the value of transport operators in the process of economic development.
Curfews negatively affect freight and passenger transport operations. The consequences of the curfew are late delivery of consignments and services due to the prolonged lead time, which leads to unsatisfied customers and late arrival of passengers to certain meetings.
Curfew is hindering Namibia’s vision of transforming itself into an international logistics hub for the SADC region by 2025. On the 6 January I travelled to Rundu from Windhoek with Silas Ndapuka’s bus and obviously we could not make it there before 21:00, so we had to pull over at Mururani until 04:00. The same bus was going to continue its route to Katima Mulilo and up to Harare. During our time at Mururani we saw many cargo trucks parked alongside the road since they could not continue hauling due to curfew. I saw Zambian, Zimbabwean, and of course Namibian-registered trucks. The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi-Development Corridor is a busy route that connects Namibia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Th majority of Zambian and Zimbabwean trucks I saw were refrigerated trucks used for transporting temperature-controlled goods such as fish.
On 11 November 2020, I attended Transport Events’ webinar that was on ‘Namibia: Cargo and Transhipment Gateway for Hinterland and Landlocked Countries in the SADC Region’ that was sponsored by Namport. The CEO of the WBCG spoke in his presentation of the challenges they were struggling with. Border transit time was one of these challenges. If the curfew continues, chances are high that this challenge might be prolonged, making it difficult for WBCG to overcome it.
Most suppliers/warehouses dispatch inventories after hours, so if a particular company based in Windhoek is sending consignments to Oshakati after 17:00, does the government expect that company to arrive at Oshakati before 22:00? Customers expect to receive their orders on time; delivering customers’ goods on time keeps them happy and increases their desire to continue doing business with that supplier. The time that truck drivers spend idling on the sides of the roads or at roadblocks between 22:00 and 05:00 is increasing truck turnaround time, imposing extra costs on suppliers, something that all companies are trying to avoid during this time of Covid-19.
Curfew is undeniably preventing Namibia from aligning itself as a regional logistics hub, which in future will hamper the operation and performance of WBCG since it is still widely unknown how long Covid-19 will stay. In order to provide sufficient and efficient services to all SADC countries through Walvis Bay harbour, Namibia should exempt all transport operators from curfew and allow them to operate freely by handing over permits to each and every transport operator (freight or passenger).
Article 2.4 of the SADC protocol calls for the elimination or reduction of hindrances and impediments to the movement of people, goods, equipment, and services. This should apply to all member states within the SADC region. This shows the need to harmonise policies within the SADC region in order to enable the free flow of services and goods among member states.
Driving at night reduces traffic congestion, and allowing trucks to operate at night may help to decrease road accidents.
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