A Swiss company, Terminal Investment Limited, has been selected to operate and manage the new container terminal at the Walvis Bay harbour.
The largest shipping line in the world, Mediterranean Shipping Company, is the main shareholder in the company.
Announcing the news to the media at Walvis Bay, Namport Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Kanime, expressed confidence in the Geneva-based company.
"The preferred bidder has been able to meet the terms and conditions and, if anything, if there are alternative terms, they are improving on the terms and conditions we set. We have set a number of criteria, some of which are non-negotiable, e.g., deepening and widening of the entrance channel. All I can say is that some of those mandatory criteria have been met. Therefore, the offer has exceeded our expectations."
Namport invited five global operators to participate in the bid, and Terminal Investment Limited was one of two that responded.
The company, which operates in 31 countries, will have to expand the new container terminal's capacity in terms of cargo volumes, among other requirements.
"It is therefore critical that we sweat this particular asset and earn a return on the investment. However, as we all know, we have got a very small local market. The volumes of imports and exports all originating from Namibia are simply not sufficient to enable us to optimally utilise that facility. Therefore, we can only lean on corridor and transhipment volumes for meaningful ramp-up."
Terminal Investment Limited will also be expected to expand the port infrastructure to allow Namport to accommodate larger vessels.
The tender further requires the international company to maintain all current jobs at the port.
Namport decided to look for global operators to manage the new terminal because the enterprise was unable to grow its cargo volumes to more than 750 thousand Twenty-foot Equivalent Units per year.
Moreover, the enterprise needs to generate enough money to pay back the N$2.9 billion it borrowed from the African Development Bank.
The funds were part of the total cost needed to reclaim land from the sea and construct the New Container Terminal.