Times Of Swaziland: RELIEF AS 10 TANKERS TO DELIVER FUEL FROM MOZ

RELIEF AS 10 TANKERS TO DELIVER FUEL FROM MOZ
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BY THOKOZANI MAMBA on 29/12/2021 08:55:00


SITEKI – At last!
Motorists can heave a sigh of relief as they will usher into 2022 with enough
fuel. This follows that about two million litres of fuel were transported into
the country from Matola Port in Mozambique. According to Galp Eswatini Sales and
Marketing Director Fanie Mthethwa, 10 trucks loaded with thousands of litres of
fuel each, were on their way into the kingdom from the Portuguese speaking
nation. The delivery of the fuel will come as a huge relief to motorists, some
of whom had to endure the Christmas weekend without travelling or queuing at
filling stations where there was fuel.
The queues were too long as Galp and Puma filling stations did not have any
fuel. Towns that were mostly affected were Nhlangano, Siteki and Manzini City.
Mthethwa indicated that processing of customs documents at the Lomahasha Border
Gate might delay the arrival of the trucks, which meant fuel could be available
late this afternoon or tomorrow morning.
He further stated that his company had also secured a fuel load that was being
transported by train and was expected into the country this coming weekend. The
director said they secured close to two million litres of fuel, which would only
cover the first week of January. Initially, Galp Eswatini is allocated two
million litres of diesel and 400 000 litres of petrol by government through the
Import Committee that was appointed by the Ministry of Finance. This is fuel to
be imported from Mozambique.
This fuel only covers the first quarter, which is January until March; however,
due to the high demand of fuel, Galp Eswatini further made a special quota
application of four million litres of diesel and the same number of litres of
petrol. Mthethwa pointed out that there had been delays in the issuance of the
special quota allocations which had resulted in the current prevailing fuel
shortage in most of their retailers locally. He said they uploaded their special
allocation application through the ASYCUDA system on December 03, 2021 and were
expecting feedback from the Import Committee on December 6, 2021.
Delays
However, there were delays hence they were now scrambling to mitigate the
situation. ASYCUDA is a computerised customs management system that covers most
foreign trade procedures. It handles manifests and customs declarations,
accounting procedures, and transit and suspense procedures. It also generates
trade data that can be used for statistical economic analysis. Mthethwa
explained that they sourced their fuel with a Galp Eswatini sister company based
in Mozambique and they also sourced a certain percentage with South African
suppliers but were only entering in six months to a year contracts due to the
high demand of fuel as South African suppliers also subsidised their local
sister companies.
“We have a 10-year running contract with our sister company in Mozambique and
we become a third party when we try to source fuel from South Africa as they
also prioritise their local sister companies, hence we enter into short term
agreements with them,” he said. Furthermore, Mthethwa said they were expecting
feedback on the applied quota application from government next week. “We are
optimistic that the current prevailing situation will be addressed once
government gives us feedback. This is an inevitable situation which we have to
try by all means to avert in the near future,” Mthethwa concluded.
Meanwhile, Eswatini Fuel Retailers Association (EFRA) Chairman Mduduzi Nyoni
said they had engaged all the concerned stakeholders to find a lasting solution
to this situation. The chairman acknowledged that it was not the first time the
country was faced with scarcity in fuel supply which had been necessitated by
logistical issues between the retailers and suppliers. Nyoni also noted that
government had not been swift in addressing the issue of delays in the issuance
of quota allocations to the retailers. He further assured the nation that his
organisation was positively addressing this issue with the aim of ensuring that
the situation did not repeat itself in the future.
“The logistical connotations between Galp and Puma filling stations with their
suppliers in South Africa have also been the catalyst. However, we have engaged
the oil companies, the regulator, the Ministry of Finance and that of Natural
Resources and Energy, to find a workaround strategy in mitigating the
situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, motorists also faced the same predicament during the June and July
unrest when tankers transporting fuel had to stop sourcing fuel from Durban,
South Africa due to the intensity of bombing threats in that country as well as
locally. As a result, tankers from Southern Star Logistics had to source fuel
from Matola Port in Mozambique and were escorted from the Lomahasha Border Gate
to their various supplying depots and garages countrywide. Meanwhile, Minister
of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, said the stock depletion in the Matola Port with a
shipment arriving on Sunday had also necessitated the situation after government
approved the special quota allocation application in early November.
Advance
Rijkenberg said the allocations were done months in advance and the retailers
requested the special quota for November and December and were granted in early
November. The minister added that the prevailing situation had been exacerbated
by the fact that certain local companies found a problem with importing fuel
from South Africa. He said the approved special quota permits were to source and
import fuel from Mozambique. “They also battled due to the fact that fuel was
not available in Mozambique and a ship came in on the 26th at the Matola Port.
There are fuel companies that are not experiencing the problem other than
running dry due to high demand,” Rijkenberg explained.