Trucking fleets under pressure to deliver food aid

South African trucking fleets are experiencing difficulties in meeting the demand to supply food aid to drought-affected countries in the region, particularly Zimbabwe, according to logistics experts. Massive orders to ferry fertiliser to Malawi ahead of the planting rains have put trucking fleets under tremendous pressure, said Charles Nicolle of Cargo Africa, a logistics company. "Many countries have left their maize orders for too long: most trucks have been booked to transport fertiliser - about 60,000 mt - to Malawi through to December," he explained. Unlike its neighbours, South Africa has had a bumper maize crop. Across the region, an estimated 12 million people in six countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe - will face food shortages until early next year. Malawi, one of the countries worst affected by the regional drought, is trying to pump in 146,000 mt of subsidised fertiliser before the planting season starts next month. A reduction in fleet sizes as a direct result of the fall in commercial trade with Zimbabwe, previously South Africa's largest trading partner, is compounding the haulage problem. According to the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations, Zimbabwe's long-standing economic crisis has caused trade between the two countries to slump. Zimbabwean authorities have so far refused to appeal for international aid to stave off widespread hunger, insisting instead that the government has the capacity to import the 1.2 million mt it estimates it needs to bridge the food gap. Aid workers, however, estimate that more than four million people will go hungry until next year's harvest in April/May. "Now it looks like they will need food aid - we have received orders through to next June. We are overstretched a bit at the moment," said a trucking company representative. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that its US $100 million operation to feed 10 million people in the region will require 400 trucks or rail wagons per week to meet its commitment. "Trucks fleets traditionally come under stress at this time of year, as there are many competing demands to move goods around southern Africa ahead of the Christmas period," said Mike Huggins, WFP spokesman for southern Africa. "WFP has just signed long-term agreements with most of our transporters to continue working through December to ensure food deliveries reach the hungriest people in time," said Huggins. "So, provided we receive financial support from the international community to buy urgently needed supplies, the region's most vulnerable should receive rations on time," he added.