This is the ninth of a series of blog postings from Clare Bottle, who will be telling us about her travels in Zambia - supported by transport charity Transaid - to see what the transport industry is like out there:
Our meeting schedule for this morning was unexpectedly quiet, so we headed for the sumptuous Intercontinental Hotel with its delicious coffee. Victor Simfukwe is a local Transaid volunteer whose knowledge of Lusaka would put any sat-nav system to shame and has been supporting Gary for several months. As part of Victor’s education about transport and logistics we fashioned an impromptu lecture on warehousing, illustrated by various photographs discovered on my laptop. Noticing a group of businessmen at the next table had stopped their conversation in order to watch us, I was sure my expertise on this fascinating topic had them enthralled, but it turned out that they were from Philips and merely observing the brand of my computer.
Later in the morning we visited two courier companies: FedEx and Mercury. The latter is a local outfit which is an appointed agent for UPS. Both agreed that there are problems with the VAT status of exports and they would welcome a forum for discussion of such issues. Driver skills were also mentioned. Courier drivers must have local knowledge and an aptitude for customer service, to supplement their technical driving ability. Both FedEx and Mercury use motorbikes as well as small vans. They subcontract larger loads to local haulage firms.
In the afternoon I met Raphael Mabenga of the National Road Fund Agency which administers government money for maintenance and safety. He agreed that some of the NRFA engineers might benefit from CILT membership. Raphael explained that funds are available for road improvement works, but these must be drawn by staff at the 72 local councils, who lack experience in the preparation of contracts. He also acknowledged that smoother, faster roads can cause more crashes.
Our last meeting of the day was with Prince Chintimbwe of National Airports Corporation (NAC). There’s potential for confusion in Zambia’s aeronautics. The flag-carrier Zambia Airways closed in 1994, but a privately run airline now goes by the name of Zambian Airways. Airport services are offered both by Prince’s employer, NAC, and also by an unrelated private company called NAC2000. NAC is responsible for four airports: Lusaka, Livingstone, Mfuwe and Ndola. The aggregated passenger numbers have recently topped one million. Airfreight is also growing, although when it comes to horticultural exports (flowers and vegetables), Kenya and Ethiopia are much more successful that Zambia. The worldwide industry standard is for non-aero sources (from carparking and retail concessions) to make up to 20% of overall airport revenue and this is a target which Prince plans to reach.
If you’d like to know more and would consider sponsoring me, please visit my charity giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/clarebottle.
Clare Bottle is a freelance logistics specialist, with experience and market knowledge in storage, packaging and transport; she is also a Board Director and Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK.