Boma Brewery
World of Heineken 37 Winter 2007/2008
Boma Brewery in the south-west of the DRC
supplies more than 85 per cent of its production
volume to destinations outside of the city. It is
the job of Jean Dyanda, commercial manager
at the brewery, to coordinate the supply of the
main depot 80 km upstream. "The boats take 12
hours to get from Muanda to Boma and seven
hours to get back," he says. "My logistic and
managerial challenges mainly concern how to
manage the boats and the captains and reducing
load time," he explains.
Road and rail form the backbone of land-based transport in this vast
country that covers more than 2.3 million sq km. But the equatorial
weather in one of the world's largest continents frequently washes
bridges away, and reduces roads to tributaries of the Congo River
system that dominatesthearea^B
ideal alternative for tra
Almost 78,000 sq km (or the size of Czech Republic) of the DRC is
covered with water, supporting boats of all sizes. "It is this water-based
transport that plays a major part in ensuring that our beer is available,
even in the most remote parts of the country," says Dolf van den Brink,
"Last year, we only had 12 boats. They had to
make use of only one quay at Boma, and to make
matters worse, a sunken military boat blocked
the port at Muanda which meant that we could
only load and offload one boat at a time.
"To meet our increased demand, we now have
20 boats, a second quay at Boma, and a second
beach - our own - at Muanda. We have installed
lights on the beach road at Boma to enable
loading and offloading by night, and by keeping
a close check on the arrival and departure times
of the boats, we have increased efficiency by
offering productivity incentives to the captains."
- Boat route
- Road route
- Train route
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