Angola's new National Freight Bourse aims to lower cost of sea freight

ANGOLA has launched the National Freight Bourse (NFB) that aims to bring importers, shipping agents and shipowners together to contract the transport of goods by sea freight.

The freight exchange's focus is to lower the freight costs for cargo arriving or leaving ports in Angola to match international transport prices.

Transport Minister Augusto da Silva Tomas said at the inauguration ceremony that in 2011 the country spent over US$1.2 billion on freight shipping for importing containerised cargo.

That corresponds to the arrival of 421,000 container imports in Angola, higher than in previous years and at a lower freight cost, reported GAC Hot Port News.

In 2008 transporting a container to Angola cost an average of $3,665, while in the first half of this year that cost had dropped by 22 per cent to $2,850.