One journey ends, another begins

With the container delivered to Beira, our journey has come to an end. Alex will return to Lilongwe with a load of grain, and I will fly back to the United States to prepare an article for Tobacco Reporter’s print issue about the logistics of tobacco in southern Africa.

Our cargo, on the other hand, has only started its long voyage to Philip Morris Germany. The container has been booked on the MSC Chaneca, which will sail on June 15. The vessel will take it to Durban, South Africa, where it will probably sit for a few days until it can be loaded onto a mainliner—one of those huge containerships that traverse the high seas.


All aboard!

Depending on where else the mainliner will call—Rotterdam or perhaps Antwerp—the journey to Bremen can take up to four weeks.

When Philip Morris’ employees finally unload the Malawi tobacco in late July or early August, they are unlikely to reflect on the dedicated efforts and careful coordination that made the delivery possible.

And why should they?

After all, if the transportation companies are doing their jobs well, their clients will never have a clue about the obstacles that must be overcome to get them their tobacco—unless, of course, they’ve followed this blog or are a regular reader of Tobacco Reporter.


See ya

cash

Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation continues to fascinate me.

I’ve seen photos of people getting trays full of change after paying for a beer in a bar. The money depreciates so quickly that Zimbabweans must spend their earnings instantly on items that hold their value better than the does beleaguered currency—which is pretty much anything these days.

Apparently, Zimbabwean prostitutes have even been demanding payment in diesel.

I try to picture people paying for big-ticket items such as cars in these circumstances. Would there be enough space in the showroom to hold the cash?

It’s not an entirely unrealistic vision, because many African economies are cash-only. In Malawi, for example, few people have access to credit because there is no national identification system. Without birth certificates, it is almost impossible for people to prove they are who they say they are.

When Transcom’s Guy Fawcett purchased a pickup truck recently, he had to bring US$30,000 in cash to the dealership—and then the saleswoman tried to trick him by folding one stack of notes in a way that made it seem as if there wasn’t enough money.

So, while many things are done differently in Africa, the ethics of salespeople appear to be consistent with those of their counterparts in the West.

Fees

Even as the Mozambican police force is less corrupt than it was in the past, plenty of parties continue to demand “facilitation fees.”

Prior to entering the port of Beira, truck drivers must clear their paperwork at a decrepit customs building just outside the gate. Some 20 young men are hanging around with no obvious purpose. I meet the gaze of one of them, and he responds with a hand gesture that I assume to be the local variant of a raised middle finger.

As Alex enters the customs building he slips the apparent ringleader a few banknotes—the price of trouble-free passage.

In the port, money changes hands again. First to persuade the operator of a reach-stacker (a giant forklift) to unload our container now—instead of whenever he might feel like it.

And when he goes to collect his return cargo, grain, he “tips” the foreman of the load crew to get to work straight away. After a few days in Mozambique, I understand why.

A truck weigh station operator who got nothing kept babbling on his cell phone as trucks lined up for the scale. Remarkably, Alex pays the “fees” out of his own pocket. They allow him to deliver his loads faster and, ultimately, make more trips. The extra money earned that way more than compensates for the cost.


At a price

Back on the road again

Traffic is light and consists mostly of trucks. We also encounter several overloaded busses heading in the opposite direction. “Mozambicans and Malawians fleeing anti-immigrant violence in South Africa,” explains Alex.

At times, he pulls over to chat with a fellow Transcom Sharaf driver. Because Alex’s truck is the newest and most modern in the fleet, the other drivers all want to check it out. Without exception, they are impressed, some whistling in admiration as they inspect the cabin.


Mine is faster

The bumpy journey continues. While most potholes are a result of poor maintenance, some have been made intentionally, says Alex.

Thieves will break the pavement, making it easier to steal the load from passing trucks, which must now slow down to avoid the manmade potholes.

Break-bulk is most susceptible to theft, but the thieves go for containers also. “They’ll just use chain cutters,” says Alex.

Processed tobacco is a less popular target than, say, fertilizer, which can be easily sold.

To deter theft, Transcom Sharaf covers break-bulk in nets. “It’s not invincible, but if the thief has a choice between a covered and an uncovered load, hopefully he will target the uncovered one,” says Guy Harvey.

Who wants to be a billionaire?

I stand corrected.

The new Zimdollar is a note of 5 billion, not 50 billion as I wrote earlier. All the same, it means that Zimbabwe not only has the world's best performing stockmarket, but also the greatest number of billionaires.

Here it is:



Five billion Zimbabwe dollars equals US$2.50 today--probably half of that tomorrow. Have fun counting zeros when buying that house or car.

Day-to-day

Trucker is a popular profession in Africa. Not only does it pay comparatively well, it also offers drivers an opportunity to run all sorts of businesses on the side, such as smuggling cigarettes, transporting passengers and diverting fuel.


The popular crowd

A representative of a Zimbabwean trucking company tells the story of one driver who didn’t bother to collect his salary for 1.5 years because the other opportunities that come along with the profession were so much more lucrative.

Besides, Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation would have rendered his salary worthless almost instantly. The money that bought a four-bedroom house last year might not even buy an egg today. This month, the Zimbabwean government introduced a Z$50 billion banknote—about 45 U.S. dollars.

Obviously, transportation companies would prefer drivers focus on the activity that they are paid for—driving. Some estimate fuel theft accounts for 10 percent of total consumption. Carrying passengers, meanwhile, presents a liability risk. If a truck is involved in an accident, the trucking company will be held responsible for any injured passengers.

It also increases wear and tear. Truck cabins are designed to hold two people, not 12.

But it’s difficult to stop the side businesses. Hitching rides is a way of life in Africa, where the distances are long and few people own vehicles. And fuel diversion is simply seen as a way of helping make ends meet.

The Zimbabwean trucking official says that, in order to operate here, you must understand the African mentality. With life expectancies as low as 37 years, many Africans live from day to day. They simply don’t have the luxury of long-term planning or worrying about tomorrow. In such an environment, the little extra money earned today outweighs the prospect of still having your job next year.


Malawian truckers passing time while waiting to unload tobacco

The trick, he says, is to work the system in such a way that there is enough room for drivers to steal fuel, while still allowing the trucking companies to make a profit.

Slow-motion slalom

The first part of our journey progresses smoothly. Malawi’s roads appear to be in relatively good condition. I mentioned that to Guy Harvey upon arrival in Lilongwe, but he just grinned. “Just wait until you get to Mozambique,” he said.

But the roads on the other side of the border are just as smooth. “This stretch was built in 2005,” says Alex. We cruise along at a steady 70 km per hour and I am starting to suspect Guy may have exaggerated

Then we hit Changara.


Hold on tight

The asphalt ahead looks as if it’s been hit by a cluster bomb. Some of the craters are deep enough to bathe a small child in, and Alex must slow the truck to a crawl. Bouncing violently in our seats he navigates around the potholes, sometimes driving around them and sometimes going straight through.

“If I approach a hole from the wrong angle I could tip the truck,” he explains. At times, the best option is driving next to the pavement



I ask Alex about the red-and-white tapes tied between poles at regular intervals alongside the road. “Landmines,” he explains. A decade after the end of Mozambique’s civil war, many areas remain infested with unexploded ammunition.

When I relief myself along the roadside, I prudently aim for the pavement rather than into the bush.


Cross at your own risk

We are overtaken by a Toyota Landcruiser and a bicycle. But with 20 tons of precious tobacco in tow, we must continue our slow-motion slalom. The speedometer never exceeds 10 km per hour.

Two children are “fixing” the road by throwing sand in the potholes. Alex hands them some money, but then grumbles that they should be in school.

After three-and-and-half hours, we hit Guro and the road starts improving.

We’ve driven 75 km (47 miles).

Cops and robbers

We encounter our first police stop at the outskirts of Lilongwe, but the officer waves us through. Malawi police are relatively relaxed, and those in Mozambique have gotten much better as the country’s economy improves. In the 1990s, with memories of the civil war still fresh, the police in Mozambique were notorious for shaking down travelers, charging them with bogus offences such as “driving with sunglasses.”

In an attempt to improve the country’s image and make it a more attractive destination for investors, the government has cracked down on corruption. Also, as Mozambique’s peace endures, a sense of normalcy has returned, and government officials appear to take their responsibilities more seriously. Most significantly, officers’ salaries are said to have increased.


Papers please

The level of harassment has an inverse relationship to poverty. Zimbabwean police, who were fine during the 1990s, now present a great hassle to truck drivers. The change mirrors Zimbabwe’s demise from regional breadbasket to basketcase. With the country’s hyperinflation outstripping pay rises, Zimbabweans have been forced to supplement their incomes in whatever way they can.

Congo, where a tense peace holds, is a risky destination too. When a Congolese police officer asks for your driver’s license, you’d better show it from behind the windshield, says Alex. Otherwise, he might charge you $100 to get it back.

Alex spots a buddy truck driver and pulls over to chat. His friend says he spent four days waiting at the Zimbabwean border for customs to clear his truck. During an earlier trip, Zimbabwean officials fined him $60 for being overloaded. But the scales in Mozambique, and later in Malawi, showed his weight was well below the legal limits.

Alex is concerned about violence during the upcoming elections in Zimbabwe. He will ask Transcom Sharaf’s management for permission to bypass that country during trips from Malawi to South Africa.

Diesel

In addition to accelerated vehicle wear and tear, transportation companies operating in Africa incur another expense that their counterparts in Europe and the United States seldom have to take into account—fuel theft by drivers. The driver will stop and sell small quantities of diesel to villagers, who siphon it out of the fuel tank into a drum.

There are plenty of takers. At frequent intervals, we encounter people waving jerry cans alongside the road, soliciting a sale.


Full service

The quantities per sale are relatively small—the disappearance of 20 liters from a 1,000-liter gas tank will go unnoticed—but they add up quickly when you take into account the number of drivers and trips. In a back-of-the-envelop calculation, Guy Harvey reckons that Transcom Sharaf loses about $350,000 per year to fuel theft. “And that’s a conservative estimate,” he says.


No laughing matter

Fuel theft is difficult to prevent. When the company fitted its fuel tanks with anti-siphoning devices, drivers used the breather hole instead. One driver reportedly even diverted his truck’s fuel lines to a drum in his cabin, filling it up drip by drip.

It’s a cat and mouse game, and the drivers always seem to be one step ahead. “These guys spend a long hours alone on the road, says Guy Fawcett, managing director of Transcom Sharaf Malawi. “They have lots of time to come up with ways to divert fuel.”

But the driver is not always to blame. Alex recalls a trip to Congo, when a young boy asked him to fill a small Coca-Cola bottle with diesel to use for lighting at his home. Alex took pity but quickly regretted his generosity. As was filling the bottle, the entire village lined up with drums and cans, and some of the men indicated that refusal would not be an option.

He lost 500 liters of diesel that day.


Me too

Alex

Today, we will drive the first part of our journey, from Lilongwe to Tete, where we will spend the night near Mozambique Leaf Tobacco Co.’s leaf processing facility. Our cargo: 20 tons of Malawi burley from Alliance One, destined for Philip Morris Germany.

To ensure their guest is comfortable, Transcom Sharaf has assigned me to their fleet’s latest and most modern vehicle: A Freightliner hot off the boat from the United States. (The company uses only previously owned trucks; new ones would be hard to justify on Africa’s punishing roads.)

Freshly painted in company colors, the truck has received a clean bill of health from Transcom Sharaf’s mechanics. The cabin has been vacuumed and the engine is humming nicely. Climate controls and advanced suspension technology will minimize the discomfort associated with travel in Africa.

But there is one problem—my driver is missing a leg.



Guy Harvey assures me I will be fine. The truck is equipped with automatic transmission and Alex is Trancom Sharaf’s best driver hands down. He can make it to Johannesburg, South Africa, in only three days, and—unlike some other drivers—takes good care of his vehicles, slowing down for potholes and inspecting his vehicle at every stop.

He also doesn’t drink alcohol. And if that’s not enough to gain my confidence, there’s the sticker on the dashboard, reminding passengers to relax, because “God is in control.”

In 2006, Alex pulled into a truck stop in Tete to spend the night. When thieves attempted to steal his cargo, he decided to look for a safer place closer to the MLT factory. On the way, he pulled over to chat with a friend. As they were talking on the side of the road, the truck suddenly slid off the embankment and tipped over, pinning Alex’s lower body under the front windshield pillar. It took nearly five hours to free him.

The doctors at Tete hospital wanted to amputate both legs, which would have ended Alex’s career as a truck driver. But Guy Harvey insisted on a second opinion. With the help of a MLT doctor, they managed to save one leg. Alex spent a month recovering at a Zimbabwe hospital.

The accident didn’t deter Alex. Upon return to Transcom Sharaf, he insisted on driving again. He also maintained his sense of humor. When he was fitted with a prosthesis, Alex reportedly complained that he would have preferred a white leg.

While hesitant at first, Transcom Sharaf’s management decided to give Alex an opportunity to prove his one-legged driving skills. Today, he is the company’s head driver and senior instructor.