Malawi
Overview
Malawi is a landlocked country sharing common borders with Tanzania in the north and east, Mozambique in the south and east, and Zambia in the west. The third largest lake in Africa, Lake Malawi, runs almost three quarters of the length of the country from north to south. The country has a population of 13.2 million. 85% of this live in the rural areas.
Team
Overall the Logistics unit has close to 45 staff, including truck drivers and fleet support staff.
Activities
Ports Operations
- Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania is located at latitude 6.5 and longitude 39.17 east. It is the major port in Tanzania managed by the Tanzania Harbours Authority (THA). The port has eleven deep-water berths out of which three berths are for container operations and eight berths for general cargo operations. It is strategically placed to serve as a convenient freight linkage not only to and from East and Central African countries but also to Middle and Far East, Europe, Australia and America. Apart from Tanzania, six (6) landlocked countries, namely Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Zambia and Malawi, are using the port. These countries are connected to the port through two railway systems, Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) and Tanzania Zambia Railways Authority (TAZARA) and a road network.
- Nnacala in Mozambique for overland transport by rail, a distance of 580 Kms to the border at Nayushi.
- Beira in Mozambique for overland by road, a distance of 674 Kms to the Mwanza border and 810 Kms to the Dedza border. Container vessels have their own container terminal to operate. Mainly 03 container vessels can work and operate at same time even so only 02 shore gantry cranes (40 MT capacity) are available. The main issue is related to the draft restrictions found at the Channel that only allows vessels with a maximum of 9.1 meters to pass by during high tide. This will apply for both Container Terminal and General cargo berths. Please note that vessels will not berth/unberth without daylight.
- Durban in South Africa for overland by rail / road, a distance of approx. 2000 Kms to the Mwanza border.
- With the rehabilitation of the port of Quelimane in Mozambique on the Zambezi estuary, a new option offers itself for overland road transport only 317 Kms from the border at Mulanje in southern Malawi.
Storage
The Logistics unit has a total storage capacity of approximately 20,000 MT. Additional storage space is being installed in Blantyre using prefabricated storage tents erected on platforms.
- National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) warehouses and Silos: NFRA has silos in Kanengo and additional warehouses in Kanengo (220,000mt), Mangochi silos (20,000mt), Limbe (58,900mt) , Bangula (5,000mt) and Kazombwe warehouse in the north (5-6,000mt).
- ADMARC has the main warehouses in all major population centres with a total capacity of 270,000 MT plus smaller warehouses in all district centers and markets. The smaller ones are from anywhere between 50 to 200 MT capacity.
Road Transport
WFP Malawi operates its own truck fleet in Malawi but also in the region especially in Mozambique (Beira and Tete) and South Africa. Malawi is mostly prone to floods during the rainy season. To tackle the issue, WFP
8 preposition stocks at the FDPs before the rains whenever possible but in case this is not
possible due to food shortfalls we use the 6x6 M621 trucks as the roads become completely impassable for other non-6x6 or 4x4 trucks.
In order to regularize deliveries to schools and health centers to the islands in the Lake,
WFP purchased two boats. These boats also assist the flood assessment missions
whenever required and deliver food aid to otherwise inaccessible places.
Rail
At present the Nacala corridor is the only viable means of Malawi exports and imports by rail for the moment. Rail distance from Nacala to Blantyre (Limbe) is 807 Kms and to Lilongwe (Kanengo) it is 1007 Kms.
Aviation
There are no current air operations in this country.
Other WFP logistics services
Due to the nature of the operations, the Logistics unit is not providing logistical support to other organizations. There is, however, a standby agreement in place with UNICEF for the provision of warehousing and transportation in case an emergency response is required.
