The brewery faces a number of challenges in the region. Collisions and accidents with
boats represent a significant risk. Another challenge faced daily is one of currency.
While barter is still widespread, US Dollars are still a widely used currency. The
boatmen must also be geared to^ccept Congolese Francs. Another concern is the
retrieval of returnable bottles, says Bomboro. "We serve partners such as wholesalers,
but scheduling can be a problem. We can send boats prepared to collect the empties,
but it can be unclear what time t|e boats will be able to leave, and sometimes it can
take many days."
Bomboro's brewery is currently setting up further depots to be supplied by boat
from Zongo. "A new dilemma is how to sell beer in areas that are non-monetized,
he says. "In some of these remote areas, the people are subsistence fishermen, and
there is no money in use, so bartlr trade is the rule. This presents unique operational
challenges. The weather also creates obstacles such as trunks of trees across rivers
and sandbanks, and boatmen must often navigate waters populated by crocodiles,
pythons and hippopotamus."
Ml
A waterfall near Ubundu
Vianney Bomboro, Directeur de Siege (General Manager) of Mbandaka Brewery in
the northwest of the country uses boats to sell beer along the river using the SRD
Fleuve direct sales system. "In some places like Zongo, our competitors are operating
only 10 km across the border in neighbouring countries, so in order to be available
and competitive, we have to ship our products 800 km to Zongo in an economically
feasible way."
World of Heineken 37 - Winter 2007/2008
"The trucks and drivers were taken hostage and
liberated only after a day. A part of the cargo was
plundered and the drivers lost everything including
their clothes. Fortunately the drivers were not hurt
and could continue with the trucks and a large part
of the cargo to Butembo."
Further challenges in transporting our beer
In 2006, Bralima opened a representative depot
through a local wholesaler in Zongo in northeastern
DRC, around 800 km upriver from the brewery in
Mbandaka. "We built one large boat with a capacity
of 3,300 cases. It takes two weeks to travel upriver
to Zongo and one week to return, but effectively,
it takes the boat approximately one month for the
round trip," says van den Brink. "Unfortunately after
some months we found that during the low water
season from January to June, the boat can only
travel to Dongo, which is 200 km from Zongo. Our
company must then rent pirogues for the Dongo to
Zongo leg, so sales suffer considerably during this
period," he says.
Another case in point is the Kivu region in East
Congo. Bralima has two distributors in Nord-Kivu
who sell beer and soft drinks in and around the
cities of Beni, Butembo, as well as Bunia, a relatively
rich area with many mines in the northern part of
Nord-Kivu.
Even in the region of DRC's capital Kinshasa there
are many challenges. Bralima operates around
70 direct delivery trucks, which drive up to 200
km each day to sell and deliver products. "As the
security situation can change very quickly, even
within a couple of hours, all trucks are equipped
