Niël Terblanché
WITH Walvis Bay as the main port of entry for trade goods destined for landlocked countries in Southern Africa, the port is ready to receive and process four Roll-on/Roll-off vessels in the next two weeks.
The first of these giant vessels will moor alongside the main quay of the port of Walvis Bay on Monday.
Two of the ships will arrive in the port on Wednesday and will have to take turns mooring alongside because of the unique method of its cargo being offloaded.
A special ramp was constructed in the port of Walvis Bay where the wheeled cargo is driven on and off the vessel because only one such ramp exists in Namibia’s main port.
One of the giant vessels will have to wait for the first to offload the cargo destined for processing in the Walvis Bay port.
The last of the Ro-Ro’s is expected to be at the Port’s quayside on 31 May 2019 from Ghana heading to the Durban Port in South Africa.
The Ro-Ros combined will be discharging over 350 vehicles destined for the Zambian, Zimbabwean, Botswana and local markets during their various intervals.
Roll-on/roll-off ships are vessels designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars, which are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle, such as a self-propelled modular transporter.
This is in contrast to lift-on/lift-off vessels, which use a crane to load and unload cargo.
Ro-Ro vessels have either built-in or shore-based ramps that allow the cargo to be efficiently rolled on and off the vessel when in port and can carry up to 5 500 vehicles per load.
The Namibian Ports Authority has since January 2019 to date received 12 Ro-Ro vessels.
SOURCE: Informanté
https://informante.web.na/four-ro-ro-vessels-visiting-walvis-bay-indicate-improved-trade/
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