Supply of Toyota vehicles to Zambia is getting back on track after devastating floods in South Africa earlier this year delayed shipments of cars.

The company is working at full speed to get its plant in KwaZulu-Natal back up and running after April’s floods badly affected the region’s automotive industry, with production halted at Toyota’s Durban factory, logistics routes knocked out and damage to the port of Durban.

It has been three months since the Toyota Prospection Plant in Durban suspended its operations due to the damage caused by heavy rain and flooding from the Ntshongweni Dam.; which flooded the factory in 50 minutes after the river dam broke.

The 87-hectare plant produces and sells vehicles such as the Hilux pick-up, Corolla Cross, Hiace and Fortuner to 74 different countries around the world, Zambia being one of them.

“Our colleagues in South Africa are working round the clock to stabilise production ; they have our full sympathy and support after such a devastating catastrophe,” said Toyota Zambia Chief Operating Officer Nenad Predrevac.

The floods have caused serious logistics problems for the in-bound movement of automotive parts and the delivery of finished vehicles outbound via the port.

The factory is set to begin with production during July and is expected to return to full capacity from October this year.

“We thank our customers in Zambia for their patience and support during this difficult time and wish to reassure them that we are in constant communication with our production centre to ensure full availability is restored as soon as possible,” added Mr Predrevac.

Toyota South Africa announced that it is slowly getting back after the intense floods, and that about 4000 of the production vehicles that were on site at the time will be written off and have been destroyed for the purpose of future quality.

Parent company Toyota Motor Corporation Company is supporting the plant hindered by the floods with all the cash flow challenges they are facing as it gets back on the road.

Toyota South African Motors is doing all that they can including 18 hour shifts in a day, 9 hours each; 6 days a week and in every 90 seconds a Hilux pick-up is sent off.

About Toyota Zambia
Toyota Zambia is the official distributor and dealer for Toyota and Hino, and Automark pre-owned vehicles.
Through its branches in Lusaka, Kitwe, Livingstone and Solwezi, and authorised service centres in Kabwe, Chipata, Mkushi and Kasama, the company also provides genuine parts and quality aftersales service across Zambia.
Toyota Zambia has been a trusted household name in the vehicle market since its establishment in 1963 as a member of the Lonrho group of companies.
https://www.toyotazambia.co.zm/

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose trading started last year, is grounded in the understanding that intra-continental trade is one of the crucial tools that can integrate economies, accelerate growth of countries, improve competitiveness, and improve economic development of economies.

To fully unlock the opportunities in the AfCFTA, the interconnectedness of African countries and movement of goods and persons comes to play.

Cargo movement and movement of persons is critical for trade between countries as it ensure that business parties send and receives goods timeously, as well as businesspeople engage.

This is where countries like Zimbabwe stands to benefit a lot.

First Zimbabwe is not a landlocked, but a land-linked country, and this gives its businesses an advantage to supply competitively priced products without much hinderance in Southern Africa, riding on proximity to lucrative markets in the region.

For example, the road distance between Harare and Lusaka by road is around 500km.

If competitors from Johannesburg, South Africa want to access the same market, they must meet the cost of additional 1,230km as the distance to Lusaka is around 1,730.

So, when looking at how logistics is an important factor in export business, the location of Zimbabwe at the heart of Southern Africa places the country at a competitive advantage for local companies to increase exports to the region.

For local businesses, however, the issue is not only the position of the country but accessibility to those markets as supportive infrastructure is key.

In that regard, it is encouraging to note that President Mnangagwa’s Second republic is placing priority on improving the transport sector, starting with road and railway rehabilitation.

Considering the strategic importance of the road network in enhancing accessibility as well as promoting domestic and regional trade as a key transport corridor, the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) identifies the urgent need to rehabilitate national road networks, particularly those that link the country to the rest of the region.

“In this regard, the NDS1 will target to increase the number of kilometres of road network converted to meet Southern Africa Transport and Communications Commission (SATCC) standards from five percent to 10 percent by 2025 and to increase the number of kilometres of road network in good condition from 14 702km to 24 500km by 2025.”

Currently, the Government is implementing the Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) that is targeting to repair roads that were damaged by heavy rains received during the rainy season.

The Government is also prioritising rail networks, which are crucial if the country is to reduce the cost of landing products in export markets.

Under NDS1, plans are to improve secure investment towards railway infrastructure development as well as increasing freight cargo moved from 2.6 million tonnes per annum in 2020 to 6.7 million tonnes per annum by 2025.

Zimbabwe being land-linked, its location in Southern Africa makes it a key transit point in the regional transport system, thereby making it even more important for the country to invest in maintaining and upgrading a reliable transport network and to integrate its transport network with neighbouring countries.

The extent to which countries may tap into regional and other African markets is a function of how well it is connected to other countries.

Whilst the infrastructure development projects are underway, local companies also need to position themselves so that they tap into transport corridors that are currently in place to access all markets across the continent.

North-South Corridor

Zimbabwe is central to the North-South Corridor and the Second Republic is already implementing several developments in this corridor.

The North-South Corridor runs between the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to the Copperbelt of Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo and down through Zimbabwe and Botswana to the ports in southern Africa, taking in ‘spur’ connections through Malawi and Mozambique in the east.

The North-South Corridor also links the DRC through Zambia with the Port of Durban by road and rail with an option to pass through Zimbabwe.

This makes Zimbabwe a key and integral part of trade into these countries being linked by North-South Corridor.

The North-South Corridor is the busiest in the region in terms of values and volumes of freight and the Government of Zimbabwe has been making efforts to upgrade the corridor beginning by upgrading the Beitbridge Border post, of which a first phase section for cargo has been opened to traffic.

The Second Republic is also working on the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road, of which over 313km have been opened to the motoring public.

Beira Corridor

Zimbabwe is also part of the Beira Corridor which serves road transport along the Beira–Mutare–Harare–Chirundu–Lusaka Route, which overlaps with the Harare–Chirundu–Lusaka section of the North–South Corridor, and the Beira–Tete–Blantyre Route, the so-called Tete Route, and the Beira–Nhamilabue–Nsanje–Blantyre Route, the so-called Sena Route, as the shortest route to the sea for inland countries including Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Beira Corridor is one of the main routes into Zimbabwe, while also serving some Zambian traffic.

Trans-Kalahari Corridor

Zimbabwean Traders have also an option either to use the Trans-Kalahari Corridor or Trans-Caprivi Corridoras the trade corridor links West-Africa, as well as Europe, the Americas, and West Africa.

The Trans-Kalahari route is also a much faster route for road transportation, as it saves about five to seven days, compared to other ports in the region for cargo from European and America.

Maximum utilisation of Walvis Bay Dry Port

As the country does not have direct access to the ocean, local companies must take full advantage of the Zimbabwe’s dry port facility at Walvis Bay in Namibia.

The dry port, inaugurated by President Mnangagwa in 2019, improves the export competitiveness of Zimbabwean companies by reducing the export and import costs of cargo.

This is achieved through reducing turnaround time and discounted handling charges.

Currently, Zimbabwean businesses largely uses Mozambican and South Africa trade routes, and the South African route is heavily congested.

Therefore, the Walvis Bay route provides a safe, faster, cheaper alternative for Zimbabwean importers of raw materials and exporters of finished products.

Through this facility, Zimbabwean companies are also able to easily access markets in Central, West, and North Africa.

Collaboration is key for distant markets

Time bound studies conducted have shown that costs induced by time have additional implications for international trade.

Various studies have demonstrated that higher logistical costs and longer transport times have negative effects on trade volumes and on firms’ ability to export.

For local companies to sustainably supply international markets, there is need improve on lead time, and leverage on existing corridors.

For products to land cost-effective in countries which may be far away there is also a need for companies to start collaborating in exports markets through consolidation rather than competing.

This year ZimTrade, the national trade development and promotion organisation, has conducted market surveys in Ghana, Kenya, and United Kingdom and sentiments have been that since the markets are bit far away there is need for companies to collaborate and share some costs to penetrate these markets.

Democratic Republic of Congo plans to expand its main border post with Zambia, a source close to its government said, to ease truck queues of up to 60 km that copper miners have faced this year due to increased production and inadequate infrastructure.

The backlog of trucks at Kasumbalesa, a border town and the main exit point for metals exports from Congo, is an example of supply chain disruption that will make it harder to meet future demand for copper, essential for electric vehicles.

“A construction project for a second Lubumumbashi – Kasumbalesa road is in the process of being signed,” the source told Reuters, adding that it would take at least 18 months to complete from the date the project is approved.

The source did not give an expected timeline for the approval.

“The turnaround time of trucks has increased substantially… it takes an extra 45 to 60 days for the products to reach consumption centres in Asia, Europe or North America,” said a source at a company with operations in the central African country.

This compares to around 15 days in 2019.

Africa’s biggest copper producer, Congo accounted for 1.8 million tonnes of mined production of the metal last year, about 8.5% of the global total, according to the US Geological Survey.

The long queues of trucks are due in part to increased traffic, according to Michel Kibonge Nyekuma, chief of staff for the Minister of Mines.

The largest miners in Congo include Glencore, Canada-listed Ivanhoe Mines, China’s CMOC and Kazakh firm Eurasian Resources Group. Some have increased copper production this year.

Ivanhoe, operator of the Kamoa-Kakula mine in Congo, transports its products by truck to the South African port of Durban.

It referred to a June 6 update on production, costs and timelines, saying it expects to reach the upper end of its 2022 guidance of between 290 000 tonnes and 340 000 tonnes of copper concentrate, from 105 884 tonnes in 2021. It projects further rises for 2023.

Congo is also the world’s top producer of cobalt used to make the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles.

Glencore, which produces most of its cobalt in Congo, saw its global output rise 46% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year.

Miners with operations in Congo say they have been calling on the government to invest in infrastructure and switch from paper to electronic systems, arguing that projected copper shortages in future are likely to be exacerbated by transportation bottlenecks.

More border posts would add “a significant amount of processing capacity, create competition between the different provinces (and) all those customs clearing revenues would improve efficiencies,” one official at a mining company said.

As part of its strategic growth plan, CEVA Logistics has announced announced today that it has closed the acquisition of Spedag Interfreight, an international freight forwarding expert covering several countries in East Africa.

The announcement comes after finalizing all customary closing conditions, including receiving regulatory approvals by relevant authorities. CEVA purchased the logistics entity from the M+R Spedag Group, a family-owned transport and logistics company headquartered in Switzerland.

Local expert in freight forwarding, key industries

Spedag Interfreight is one of the most competent and reliable logistics providers in East Africa with dedicated industry teams possessing leading expertise in relevant market verticals including energy and infrastructure, aid and relief, oil and gas, and commodities. Approximately 400 employees at 24 locations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan have joined CEVA as a result of the transaction’s closing.

CEVA extends global reach, local know-how

CEVA Logistics remains committed to a “think global, act local” growth strategy by adding Spedag Interfreight’s local market understanding to CEVA’s leading global network. The acquisition further supports CEVA’s global end-to-end logistics capabilities. CEVA Logistics is now present in 44 countries in Africa.

The company’s ambition is to make the African market account for a significant share of its revenue by 2025, and Spedag Interfreight will open new opportunities to the growth potential in East Africa. For example, Kenya acts as a key maritime gateway for East Africa. Through a recent expansion and modernization project, the port of Mombasa is expected to move more than 1.7 million TEUs in 2023. The Kenya Ports Authority expects the port to handle 47 million tonnes of cargo by 2032—a 57 percent increase from current levels.

Strategic development, growth ongoing

CEVA continues to implement its strategic growth plan under the vision of the CMA CGM Group. With the Group’s support, CEVA welcomed more than 20,000 new employees through acquisitions of Ingram Micro’s former Commerce & Lifecycle Services business and Colis Privé, France’s leading private last mile provider.

In addition, the CMA CGM Group announced in April that it had signed an agreement to purchase nearly 100% of the capital of GEFCO, the European leader in automotive logistics and an international expert in multimodal supply chain solutions. The European Commission authorized the Group to acquire the capital of GEFCO immediately, pending the final approval.

Mathieu Friedberg, chief executive officer, CEVA Logistics, says “With the addition of Spedag Interfreight in East Africa, we are continuing to execute key regional initiatives in our strategic growth plan. This acquisition is the perfect follow-on to our organic growth and M&A activity in Africa over the past two years, as well as the recent acquisitions of Ingram Micro CLS and Colis Privé. Our global scale allows us to offer a wide range of responsive logistics solutions thanks to our experienced local teams.”