THE Walvis Bay corridors performed strongly in the movement of commodities through the port of Walvis Bay to southern Africa, with a record cargo increase of more than 54% during the past financial year.

This represents a total of 682 333 tons of cargo that moved along these corridors, which is 240 000 tons more than the previous financial year. The Trans-Kalahari Corridor, which connects Walvis Bay with Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, showed 115% growth; the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor, which connects Walvis Bay with Zambia and the DRC, showed 75% growth; and the Trans-Kunene Corridor, which connects Walvis Bay to Angola, showed 29% growth.

"We have continued our campaign to communicate and engage with the shipping and logistics community to attract them to Walvis Bay and to create more capacity amongst our corridors. New shipping lines have started to call at Walvis Bay as well as some have set up new offices to expand their services via Walvis Bay into the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. We have also seen more logistics service providers from the region and further abroad that have started to develop their footprint in Walvis Bay. This allows more choice for our customers within SADC and also allows for a bigger variety of service aspects to attract new customers along our corridors," said Johny Smith, chief executive officer of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG).

Bisey Uirab, chairman of the group, said: "Continuously the WBCG's work is being distinguished in the regional and international market for its attitude in growing through persistence, and its unique private-public participation at various levels in the region, on the continent and further abroad. This recipe of success continues to bring new and more rewards of growth as we also strengthen our role, create new partnerships and networks to develop trade ... with the SADC region."

The growth of the Walvis Bay corridors can be attributed to intensive international marketing campaigns.