Find Freight, Shipping and Logistics expertise in Swaziland

Freight and carriage services are available to, from and within Swaziland via land and air. As a landlocked country, Swaziland’s only access to the sea is via Mozambique or South Africa, the nearest and most important port being Maputo in Mozambique. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade are key public bodies in this sector.

It was estimated that in 2011 the total value of Swaziland’s exports was $2.04 billion which comes principally from soft drink concentrates and processed fruit, sugar, wood pulp, cotton yarn and refrigerators and the principal export partners were South Africa, US and Europe. Imports from the same year were worth £2.07 billion spent on motor vehicles, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products and chemicals.

Transport infrastructure in the country consists of 301 km of railway and 3,594 km of roadway of which over 1,000km is paved (2002). In terms of transport infrastructure for airfreight services, Swaziland has 15 airports of which two have paved runways (2012).

Swaziland Railway is an important element in the transportation of goods around the country and moves around 4 million tonnes of goods a year of which around 75% is transit traffic. The Matsapha Inland Clearance Depot operates as a dry port and a satellite port for Durban Port. Port charges relating to activity at Matsapha Inland Clearance Depot are collected by Swaziland Railway on behalf of South African Port Operations (SAPO). The railway network connects Durban Port and Richards Bay as well as connecting Swaziland to northerly countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and DRC.

There are several companies in the freight and carriage sector providing logistics, shipping, clearing and forwarding services. The leading global companies DHL and TNT have a presence in the country as do Fedex and UPS which are represented in the country by Supaswift Swaziland (Pty) Ltd and Sharpfreight (Pty) Ltd respectively. Freight forwarding services are available from the Matsapha Inland Clearance Depot with offices either on Swaziland Railway premises or the Matsapha Industrial Site. Shipping agents such as MSC Logistics, Safmarine ad Crosscountry amongst others are also based onsite with Swaziland Railway.