Volume of food aid causes transport bottleneck

The volume of food aid and agricultural inputs being shipped to those in need in Southern Africa has resulted in bottlenecks as transporters struggle to cope. This has impacted on the World Food Programme's (WFP) ability to preposition stocks ahead of the rainy season in Zambia, one of six countries in the region facing shortages. The agency said in its latest situation report that its Zambia operation was still experiencing food supply problems due to ongoing transport delays and the slow arrival of food from South Africa. WFP said the number of people requiring food assistance in Zambia was likely to rise above 1.2 million. "Loading capacity in South Africa, along with regional competition for transport needed to deliver food and other inputs, has seriously delayed deliveries and compromised WFP's ability to preposition food before the onset of the rains," the report noted. Some commodities had to be diverted and shipped from South Africa's main port city, Durban, to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and Beira in Mozambique, from where they were being transported to Malawi and Zambia, WFP spokeswoman Stephanie Savariaud told IRIN. Although there have been fuel shortages in South Africa over the past two weeks, this had not yet affected WFP's operations, she added. "There was a lot of [aid] traffic, and because of the volume of fertiliser and seeds being transported it created a bottleneck. The food corridor for Malawi has to go through Zimbabwe, where there's also a fuel shortage, but it was less of an issue than the [quantity] of fertiliser and seeds. We had to find other options," she said. The options included contracting trucks to return to South Africa without a load so as to increase turnaround times, but "the situation has now eased", Savariaud added. Some 12 million people, mainly in Zimbabwe and Malawi, are in need of emergency food assistance due to failed harvests. South Africa, however, has had a bumper crop of 12.4 million mt of cereals, resulting in an estimated potential export surplus of about 4.66 million mt - more than enough to cover the region's import requirements, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.