[Ferro-Alloys.com]

  January 7, 2021, delays at border with Mozambique hinder chrome shipments. Beitbridge on Zimbabwe border is facing similar delays New South African government rules to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic are clogging up key border crossings, delaying mineral exports. The authorities have been battling to clear shippers and travelers since new rules were introduced at the end of December. Key routes include Lebombo, a crossing to Mozambique that’s a conduit for chrome-ore shipments, and Beitbridge, which links South African ports with Zimbabwe and other northern landlocked neighbors and is one of Africa’s busiest land crossings.

  South African trucks exporting mostly chrome ore through Mozambique are queuing more than 7 kilometers (4 miles) at Lebombo, according to Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive officer of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations. Truckers are being forced to wait as long as two days to transit the border, according to Henk Langenhoven, chief economist at the Minerals Council South Africa. South Africa ships about 30% of its chrome via Mozambique, according to the council.

  South Africa accounted for about 78% of primary chrome-ore world supply in 2019 but exports declined between 25% to 32% last year after the government implemented one of the world’s strictest lockdown earlier in the year, the Minerals Council said. “The current border delays will have an impact on exports,” Langenhoven said. “Border formalities are not well coordinated and the health requirements outlined by South Africa’s Department of Health are altered frequently and both countries apply different requirements.”

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]