Local transporters have expressed concern over the dominance of Mozambican operators in transporting Malawi’s imports and exports.
Road Transport Operators Association (RTOA) raised the concerns during an interface meeting with the Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday afternoon in Blantyre.
At the meeting, the two parties highlighted some of the challenges hitting the transport operators. The interface was also attended by a representative from the Ministry of Transport and Public Works.
During the meeting, RTOA President Abdul Hal Lambat urged government to examine the possibility of introducing the quota system for transport services between Malawi and Mozambique saying the current system is in favor of Mozambican operators.
“The cost of doing business on the Beira Corridor is in favor of the Mozambican operators to the extent Malawian transporters are finding it very difficult to compete fairly with their counterparts. This is due to the monopoly on the transportation of Malawi’s imports and exports by Mozambican transporters. We therefore urge our government to introduce the quota system between the two countries, to and from the port of Beira in particular,” he said.
He also faulted the system of transportation of imports into the country saying it is doing more harm than good to the local transporters. “The Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) has encouraged the dominance of foreign operators as suppliers choose their own transporters. Malawian transporters would benefit a lot if Free On Board (FOB) system was applied for imports,” he explained.
Lambat added that his association is also being negatively affected by high interest rates in the country.
“Some of the challenges ranges from the high interest rates which is now at 37 percent to 43 percent. Another biggest challenge is the decision by the manufacturers who are opting to buy their own trucks and embark on distribution of their own products in the sidelines of local capacity. “This is being done to avoid the Value Added Tax being charged by our Government so we are urging the authorities to consider zero-rated VAT across the board for all the transporters,” he said.
On the new system at the Department of Road Traffic and Safety Services, Lambat said: “The new system is not helping the transporters at all saying they spend time at the DRTSS offices especially with COF and registration of vehicles yet the system can no longer take in its system the old vehicles despite having many vehicles unregistered.
“We are also urging our government to consider placing axle load weighbridge and the Mobile Weighbridges in well designated areas like in Blantyre and Lilongwe but not everywhere because trucks are issued with certificates before embarking on trips,” he concluded.
And speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Principal Economist in the ministry Chimwemwe Kaunda, though admitting to the challenges faced by the operators, said some of the policies are made in order to protect the goods of the transporters.
“We are very much aware of the challenges being faced by the Road Transporters but sometimes, these policies are there in order to protect their goods and services. However, as a Ministry, we will take a look into these issues at hand though we won’t be able to solve them within the short period of time but we are working on them,” he said.
So long as they are not as corrupt as locals
Acb
Timakonda kubelana osamvelana chisoni
Weak government
Kkkkkk
Malawian transporters are expensive kuzolowela kuba basi
tiye nazoni mabwana changamukani
so wat do u want ?futsek with munthalika again shupit u mbuzi ya mano kusi
Earn money up to 4000$ in a week. Join by clicking this link http://dollarcell.com/?ref=550967
Vuto simugulanso magalimoto abwino plus paying peanuts if not nothing at all to your drivers. I wish i can feel pity for you but NO. Even south African and Zimbabwe transporters are dominating the beitbridge corridor for Malawi goods
We r not competent
my name is Helen mulikatu and this is a testimony of how i got cure from HIV/AIDS, i have being suffering from hiv/aids for the past three years without the expectation of being cure, i was on ARV, despite the ARV i was not comfortable and there was nothing i could do because i knew and i was told by my Doctor that there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, my dream of getting cured came to past, one faithful morning my son came to me and told me about what he saw on net of how someone was cured through the help of Doctor Abumen herbal medicine, i was advice its not real that there is no cure but something keep telling me to contact him, of which i later did and the cure was sent to me with an instruction on how to use it which i did accordingly and went for a test, to my greatest sup rice the result was negative i could not hold back the tears of joy running down my chick my doctor was shocked, i thank God that am finally cured from hiv/aids, Doctor Abumen is an herbal specialist that can cure hiv/aids, you can contact him through his email which is (doctorabumen@gmail) com or whatsapp his mobile number is +2347085071418.
Malawi logistics too expensive and stubborn. We pay higher prices for the same types of goods from Beira to Lilongwe when we use Malawian transporters, and we pay less the same types when we use the mozambican transporters, the price we pay when we use Malawian transporters equals the money we pay when we use other transporters from Beira to Lusaka. In Malawi transportation is too rampant, exorbitant. Unhealthy for a business person like me to use Malawian transporters than the way I use Mozambican.
Mozambiquan transporters are cheaper than Malawian reason being fuel in Mozambique is cheap while expensive with so many levies so I wud even opt for a cheaper one and question of dominance is out of question!
Very right
Mozambiquan transporters are cheaper than Malawian reason being fuel in Mozambique is cheap while expensive with so many levies so I wud even opt for a cheaper one and question of dominance is out of question!
And lets make sure we use our trucks transporting our goods from Beira
Kodi timangodandaula osachitapo ka2 why,tiyeni tikaesere maiko ao ngati wina sakafako or truck sikayacdwako moto.Tidzipangapo kanthu kuti aziziwa zoti zikutibowa.Cuz idzi zupindulira ziko lao not la2li komaso ma family awo pomwe ziko and ma family a2wa palibe zikuenda,action nw
This is another way of provoking smooth operations by Malawians. These people are very rude in their country. the distance between ZiImbabwean and Mozambique check points on Mwanza to Beitrridge rout is very dangerous for Malawian travellers. It is full of garrasing youths with knives.
I blame those who are offering foreigners contracts.
little wonder, they got reliable trucks/drivers.just check if they are registered in all sections ..