Walvis Bay truckstop to be ready next week

The mayor of Walvis Bay has confirmed that a planned temporary truckstop at the harbour town will be ready for use by Tuesday next week.

Lorries transporting cargo have remained on Namibia’s roads throughout the Covid-19 lockdown period as they are classified as essential services, delivering critical supplies such as food. However, there is concern among the population that the cross-border delivery of goods could also result in the transmission of the coronavirus disease, Covid-19.

“Truck drivers are a big concern to us because there is currently no control over their movement. The worst is that some truck drivers go to their company’s depot in Walvis Bay, disembark and go into the community without being tested for Covid-19,” said Walvis Bay mayor Immanuel Wilfried on Saturday.

Lorry drivers currently enter Walvis Bay with their vehicles and once they have offloaded their cargo, they park their lorries at the end of the main road going into the Kuisebmond township while waiting for the next load.

Wilfried said once the truckstop is ready for use, lorry drivers will no longer be allowed to move among the population without having been cleared by medical personnel.

Two weeks ago, logistics and transport companies at the town joined forces to set up a containerised truckstop on a piece of land about two kilometers outside Walvis Bay, on the road between the town and its airport.

“We are busy finalising the structural plans of the truckstop. The mobile clinic has arrived from Windhoek and everything will be up on Tuesday including the showers and toilets,” said the mayor.

Many goods are currently being imported and exported through the port of Walvis Bay, with a lot of the imports destined for landlocked countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

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