The National Oil Company of Malawi announces the beginning, soon, of the importation of fuels through the Nacala Railway Corridor.
The initiative aims to ease the cost-effectiveness of road transport from the ports of Beira in Mozambique, Durban in South Africa and Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.
The largest strategic fuel reserve of Kanengo, in Lilongwe, is already connected to the Nacala rail network in northern Mozambique and completion work on the Mchinji – Salima section is 92% complete to connect the fuel reserve of Blantyre, Malawi’s largest commercial centre.
The executive vice president of the National Oil Company of Malawi, Hellen Buluma, said that after the work was concluded, Malawi would be one of the biggest users of the port of Nacala for importing fuel.
Hellen Buluma explained that currently the Beira, Durban and Dar es Salaam road corridors have been costly for Malawi due to limited truck capacity.
Malawi pays US$10 per tonne per kilometre against US$7, the average price set in the SADC region.
The high cost of transport affects Malawi’s economic competitiveness, hence the shift in business strategies from Beira, Dar es Salaam and Durban to Nacala.
The distance between the city of Blantyre and Durban in South Africa as well as Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is about 2,300 kilometres, compared to nine hundred and sixty kilometres from the port of Nacala.
As Malawi’s economy is small, and growth is slow because it is concentrated in a small number of profitable products, the port of Nacala is seen as an alternative to Durban and Dar es Salaam to ease fuel prices.
Currently in Malawi, a litre of petrol costs 95 meticais and diesel 90 meticais, which is precipitating inflation of basic necessities.
About 17% of exports and imports of containerised cargo and 13% of bulk cargo transiting through the port of Beira belongs to Malawi.
Currently, the port of Nacala handles 7% of containerised and bulk cargo by weight.
