Maria Rinaldo, the terminal manager of Lake Oil Lda at Beira Port in Mozambique has been handling Malawi’s fuel supplies for over five years.
He says he is equally concerned that lately Malawi has been experiencing fuel supply problems mainly due to shortage of foreign exchange and logistical challenges.
Rinaldo highlights that while shortage of forex is seasonal, Malawi can quickly move to fix the logistical hiccups linked to ports by investing in long-term solutions such as the pipeline and storage facilities locally.
He highlights that for ports such as Beira, logistical challenges centre around customs delays, clearance bureaucracy and traffic congestion.
“May be to ease some of the logistical challenges, Malawi must invest quickly in the CPMZ and other pipeline projects.”
He was referring to the energy infrastructure in Beira corridor which is the main fuel supply route for Zimbabwe and parts of the South African Development Community (Sadc) countries.
“It is a safe and efficient operation and vital to ensure the energy security to landlocked countries, including Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi says Rinaldo.
Although Lake Oil Lda has a modern petroleum terminal holding over 80 million litres of both petrol and diesel products and state-of-the art quay that can fill up two trucks at a go, it was clear during a recent media visit to the port that fuel terminals are sometimes overwhelmed with traffic.
For instance, apart from Malawi, the Lake Oil Group also distributes petroleum products to Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among other countries in the Sadc region.
Apart from Lake Oil Lda, Malawi has been loading fuel from other traders such Adax and Carmel Oil also stationed at Beira Port.
Malawi also loads petroleum products from Nacala Port in that country and Dar es Salam in Tanzania. However, Dar es Salaam port is located 1 500 kilometres (km) compared to Beira which is about 800 km away.
From Beira it is easy for trucks to load fuel and be in Malawi the following day unlike Dar es Salaam which takes truck drivers between two to three days to be in Lilongwe.
Petroleum industry officials says to avoid fuel shortages, Malawi’s fuel import route mix requires that 70 percent of the fuel imports come through Mozambique’s ports.
But import costs from the two ports are inflated because of the use of road transport.
So far, Beira is processing 50 percent while Nacala was facilitating 20 percent and the remaining 30 percent is hauled through the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Lately, to ease fuel problems facing the country, it has been exploring usage of an existing pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Ndola in Zambia. The pipeline passes through Mpika in Northern Zambia.
The pipeline is commonly referred to as Tazama (Tanzania-Zambia Mafuta Pipeline) and Mpika is only 540 kilometres from Lilongwe.
CPMZ’s Beira to Feruka to Harare Pipeline is already being used by National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma).
Nocma spokesperson Reymond Likambale says hauling fuel from Harare has eased congestion problems faced at Beira Port.
Nocma is able to ferry petroleum products from Masasa in Zimbabwe, which is 609 kilometres to Matindi fuel reserves.
“We have been getting products at a place called Masasa. This has helped ease congestion challenges at Beira.
“Beira is usually congested due to low infrastructure development. The bureaucracy, especially customs, as highlighted by Lake Oil Lda terminal manager is another justification for usage of that pipeline,” he says.
Likambale further confirmed that there is a third pipeline project underway, the Nacala to Liwonde pipeline.
He says the concept for the project has already been submitted to the government for consideration.
“It would eliminate all bottlenecks affecting haulage of fuel. It would actually see infrastructure development in Liwonde as there would be a need for strategic fuel reserves, roads and other supporting infrastructure to be put in place,” adds Likambale.
Another option on thetable is rail. The country has revived transporting petroleum products from Nacala by rail over the past two years. This year, Nacal a Logistics has signed a contract with Nocma to transport 16 million litres of fuel from Nacala port to Liwonde in Machinga, Marka in Nsanje and Lilongwe.
Human Rights Consultative Committee chairperson Robert Mkezalamba, who was part of the tour, said these efforts will ease the persistent shortage of fuel that often culminates into panic buying of fuel products.
He said Malawi should continue to invest in the oil pipeline projects and rehabilitation of railways so that dependence of loading fuel at ports on trucks is reduced.
“At the end of the day, what we want is to see that Malawians have a stable supply of fuel and therefore any avenues that can help deal with the problem are welcome.
Oil pipelines will ensure that Malawians get the products quickly from the sea port,” he says, adding this would help sist the government to focus on resolving seasonal forex challenges.
According to Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority, the country requires $60 million to meet the monthly demand for fuel.
On average, $40 million (about K70 billion) is what is accessed per month and in some months, the country is only able to secure $20 million (about K35 billion) for fuel imports.
Going by the estimates, it means the government requires at least $600 million (about K1trillion) for fuel imports annually yet the country only generates about $1 billion (about K1.2 trillion) from exports against an import bill of $3 billion (about K3.5 trillion).
Fuel is mainly imported by Nocmna and Petroleum Importers Limited, a consortium of private fuel importing firms.
Source: The nation-Moses Michael Phiri-staff writer-14 November 2024