Can Namibia become a regional gateway by developing a logistics hub around Walvis Bay's Port?

Abstract

Many developing countries wish to become the 'gateway' to a region or part of a continent. One strategy involves encouraging logistics cluster development. These support global supply chains and enable the growth of the host country through the resulting trade as well as providing direct and indirect employment opportunities during the build and subsequent operation of the hub. Namibia has a desire to become the gateway to southern Africa and the SADC region. Previous work, (Munoz & River, 2010; Lambourdiere, Savage & Corbin, 2012) have established the criteria for successful clusters, whilst Savage (2013) looked at Namibia's potential for success using data from the NGLC's 2011 'State of Logistics' research (Jenkins, Savage & Fransman, 2012). This article reviews those findings using current survey data to assess Namibia's logistics industry's readiness to take on this gateway role.