Bolloré Logistics has opened a new logistics hub in Lastourville, Gabon.
Connected to the railway operated by SETRAG, Société d’Exploitation du Transgabonais, the new logistics platform will store, manage and carry processed wood in containers from the production sites in the forest to the Owendo container terminal (OCT), 557 km away.
With an area of 14,000 m², the hub will be able to handle 4,500 TEUs per year during the start-up phase. It will streamline the timber shipment process for the four main forestry companies in the province of Ogooué-Lolo.
The effective start-up has seen the reception of the first train of 15 wagons loaded with empty containers for the region’s four forestry companies: PW-CEB (Precious Woods and Compagnie Équatoriale des Bois), SBL (Société des Bois de Lastourville), SBK (Société des Bois de Koulamoutou) and BH (Bonus Harvest).
By joining forces with Bolloré Logistics and SETRAG, the four companies are seeking to address the difficulties encountered in shipping their processed timber by road and to limit transhipments between the production sites and container terminal.
To further improve the efficiency of the new site, Bolloré Logistics plans to set up a central office offering administrative and customs services in early 2020.
The containers will then be cleared through customs directly in Lastourville instead of Libreville. As a result, the time required for operations and shipment, including packing the wood into containers, shipping it to the port and completing loading formalities, should fall by 15 days, bringing gains in productivity of between 15 and 20 per cent.
“The new hub in Lastourville has a number of advantages for all the players in the timber industry.
The opening of a customs office in 2020 will round out our existing services, making it possible to cut transit times for significant gains in productivity and substantial reductions in cost.” says Jean-François Ollivier, Managing Director of Bolloré Transport & Logistics in Gabon.
