Namibia exports 25 000 tonnes of salt through Walvis

NAMPORT handled about 25 000 tonnes of bulk salt destined for the United States of America recently.

The operational method used to load the salt into the vessel makes it the first of its kind for the Port of Walvis Bay, according to NamPort corporate communications manager Taná Pesat.

Usually, bulk salt is loaded into the vessel’s hatch with a conveyor belt. But with this shipment, salt was loaded on site into skips, and transported by trucks to be discharged into the ship’s hatch.

This operation took three and half days to load into the bulk carrier “Loveland Island”, the vessel which departed on Saturday, 5 August and is set to arrive at its destination within about 21 days.

Pine van Wyk, managing director of the supplier company Gecko Namibia, said the company chose the skip method for loading the salt as it had proven to be cost-effective.

More salt shipments are expected to take place during the year, planned for destinations such as Canada, Brazil, Europe, USA and other countries in Africa.

Exported commodities for the last financial year have shown a significant increase in bagged salt by 100% and bulk salt by 10%, respectively.

“Industries linked to Namibian salt will show positive growth indicators regarding revenue and job opportunities for ordinary Namibians, in comparison to other industries such as mining that have demonstrated a noteworthy decrease in throughput capacity,” said Pesat.

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