Grindrod, the South African shipping and logistics group is looking to acquire road transport and logistics companies in Southern Africa. Grindrod director Laurence Stuart-Hill announced this week that the wholly owned subsidiary Grindrod Freight Investment bought 72% of African Portland Industrial Holdings for R29.3 million. It is listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX).
African Portland Industrial Holdings owns the Walvis Bay coal terminal at the harbour and the Matola coal terminal in Maputo, Mozambique. Stuart-Hill said the acquisition of the harbour terminals would enable the company to expand its services to Namibia and Mozambique. The port of Walvis Bay was less busy in the past few weeks due to a decrease of fishing activities. Two companies, Cadilu and Blue Ocean closed down; others are struggling to make ends meet with lower prices for fish and the strong Namibia dollar against the US currency. The dry dock or ship repair dock at Walvis Bay has been totally empty in the past two weeks.