In 2011 Angola spent over US$1.2 billion on freight shipping for importing container cargo, Angola’s Transport Minister, Augusto da Silva Tomás said at the inauguration ceremony of the National Freight Bourse (BNF).

The amount, the minister said, corresponded to the arrival of 421,000 containers of imported cargo in Angola, which was higher than in previous years and had a lower freight cost, given that since 2008 freight prices have been falling.

Tomás said that whilst in 2008 transporting a container to Angola cost an average of US$3,665, in the first half of this year that cost had fallen to uS$2,850, a real drop of US$815 per container, or 22 percent.

The National Freight Bourse, according to the minister who was cited by Angolan news agency Angop, is intended to bring importers, shipping agents, and ship owners closer in order to contract sea transport of goods to Angola.

The bourse’s main aim is to reduce the freight costs of cargo that leave from or arrive in Angolan ports down to the prices on the international market. (macauhub)