Ship-buying spree in the Bahamas

NDAMA NAKASHOLE

One of the most interesting statistics was unusually high import volumes from the Bahamas, an archipelago of about 700 tropical islands that is mainly known as a tourist destination.

The Bahamas made it to the top five Namibian import markets during the period under review, with the value of imports from there increasing by a whopping 14 612%.

Imports from Bahamas rose by N$3.54 billion to N$3.56 billion in the first quarter of this year, compared to N$24 million in the first quarter of 2017.

The huge increase was because of purchases of vessels from that country.

The Bahamas, together with the other four top import markets – China, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia – accounted for almost 80% of all Namibian imports.

With South Africa unsurprisingly accounting for most (40%) of the domestic economy’s imports, the Bahamas followed on its heels with 13.1% of Namibia’s imports for the first quarter of 2018.

In the first quarter of 2017 the Bahamas accounted for just 0.1% of Namibian imports with a one-off shipment of a vessel from that country.

A boom of vessels

Vessels were among the top five import products by value during the first quarter of 2018.

The value of vessels imported to Namibia went up by 14 897%, making it the largest increase of all the top import products, the others being copper cathodes, mineral fuels and oils, boilers and vehicles.

The import volume of vehicles dropped during the period under review.

In contrast, the import value of vessels rose sharply to N$3.74 billion, with 95% of that amount spent on vessels from the Bahamas.

Vessels accounted for 13.8% of total imports in the first quarter of 2018, topping the list of Namibian imports.

This is a huge increase from the N$530 million and N$25 million recorded for that import product in the fourth and first quarters of 2017, when it accounted for only 2.2% and 0.1% of Namibia’s total imports.

Attracting Namibian ship owners

While 95% of Namibia’s spend on vessels went to the Bahamas, Spain (3.9%) and other countries (1%) accounted for the rest.

According to the NSA statistics, N$145 million was spent on vessels from Spain during that period, while N$29 million was spent on vessels from other countries.

This is a sign that the Bahamas has risen in popularity among Namibian ship buyers. During the previous quarter (fourth quarter of 2017), 82% of vessel imports were from other countries, with Spain accounting for 17.8%.