Heavy lifting and engineered transport services company Sarens has announced the opening of a new logistics hub near Walvis Bay, in Namibia.

Covering an area of more than 4 ha, the company says the hub will enable it to deliver abnormal transport solutions, warehousing, staging, shunting and materials handling services for key sectors such as oil and gas, mining and offshore – supporting projects across Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo

The company notes that it already has experience in Namibia, having participated in the construction of the InnoVent Diaz I Wind Farm and currently participating in the installation of seven wind turbines at the InnoVent Diaz II Wind Farm in Luderitz.

Sarens explains that the decision to continue investing in Namibia, and more specifically in the Walvis Bay corridor, comes at a time when this region is establishing itself as the main logistics hub for the country and for the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, which will undergo port expansion.

With this new investment in the Walvis Bay corridor, and through other locations where it already has a presence, such as Durban, in South Africa, and Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, Sarens says it will be able to offer a more localised and personalised service to its customers in landlocked and neighbouring countries.

Initially, the machinery available at these facilities will start with K25 SPMTs with push-pull combination, extendable trailers of up to 64 m and lowbed combinations of up to 120 t, although a new investment is planned for the second half of the year.

Given the strategic location and the current congestion in Walvis Bay, the company says these facilities will enable Sarens to offer shunting services, allowing its customers to store their materials in a more favourable environment away from the ocean, thus protecting the equipment from corrosion, sand and rust.

"Our company is known for establishing itself in the countries where it operates, investing in the creation of its own infrastructure and local employment.

“Our flexibility and adaptation to local markets is one of our main characteristics, which, combined with our global presence, allows us to meet the needs of our customers, whether in the early stages of their projects, during their execution, or when they need to accelerate their development,” says Sarens country manager for Namibia Sharde Fisher.

In Namibia, Sarens says, it offers a range of services, including crawler, mobile and rough terrain cranes, as well as materials handling solutions.

The company has a currently deployed fleet of 500 t crawler, 500 t mobile and 300 t and 130 t mobile cranes in Luderitz.