The concept of ‘time is money’ is known all too well by logistics services providers the world over. Storage and transportation costs of any goods, in any country, will ultimately be reflected in the price charged to the end-user. For a developing country such as Angola, which imports around 90 per cent of the goods it consumes, maximising the efficiency and costs incurred throughout the supply chain is of particular importance.
“Today, the logistics platform is very important anywhere in the world. The more rapidly goods move, the lower the cost,” says Leonel da Rocha Pinto, general manager of port terminal operator Multiterminais and its sibling Multiparques, one of the nation’s leading logistics companies.
Luanda is one of the most expensive cities in the world and storage space at the capital’s crowded port is at a premium. More than 80 per cent of Angola’s imported goods and commodities are brought in through the Port of Luanda. Therefore, management at Multiparques chose to look slightly beyond the port’s boundaries for more cost-effective warehousing solutions that would complement the port’s facilities and help alleviate mounting congestion.
“Moving a container here costs almost as much as to bring it by sea,” says Mr Rocha Pinto. “That is why Multiparques is trying to solve this problem, with the help of the Ministry of Transport.”
Multiparques was established in 2004 and is based at the Port of Luanda. The company provides both domestic and international clients with a reliable, established logistics partner in the republic. Multiparques is investing $70 million (£43.5 million) in the development of a dry port around 15 miles from the capital at Viana.
Hundreds of containers pass though the Viana dry port every day. New warehouses at the 60-hectare site mean containers can be freed up from being used for storage and Multiparques has bought a fleet of new CLT trucks to transport goods more efficiently between Luanda and Viana. “Containers can be removed once they have been emptied and their merchandise stored. This will mean reduced prices and also the delivery time to return containers to clients will take just two to five days,” says Mr Rocha Pinto.
A railway connecting the dry port and the coast was inaugurated last November with the first transfer of containers by Caminhos de Ferro de Luanda (CFL) from its terminal at Port of Luanda to the Viana facility. The new rail link will further ameliorate the logistics process and help ease traffic congestion on the capital’s busy roads.
A 100 per cent Angolan company and employing more than 500 people, Multiparques is also building up cold storage facilities at Viana that will be at its clients’ disposal.
“Our facilities will not only serve for imported goods, but also to store local produce, which is a growing industry, and then later distribute it to markets in Luanda,” says the general manager.
“This is the kind of contribution we would like to give to our local producers and this is actually what we are developing now. Furthermore, I am not only looking nationally, but also on a regional level, serving other countries in the South African Development Community through operations in Lobito.”
As chairman of the Angolan Paralympics Committee and also of ASCOD, the African Sports Confederation of Disabled, Mr Rocha Pinto has raised a great deal of support and awareness for people affected by the landmines that still scar parts of Angola’s countryside.
He says, “The annual All Africa Games are potentially life changing for the athletes taking part and also society in general.”
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