The government has attributed hiccups that are being faced in fuel supply processes to shortage of certified fuel tankers in the country.
This comes at a time motor users have started scrambling for fuel again, after the problem seemed to have eased last week.
Information Minister-cum-government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu told The Daily Times that, at present, the issue is not about lack of fuel but, rather, the limited availability of certified tankers to transport it from Tanga Port in Tanzania.
“We are relying on a few transporters. These are the same ones who carried the first consignment of 51 million litres. Some are returning to bring more fuel. The queues are, to some extent, due to panic buying,” Kunkuyu said.
The government procured the 51 million litres of fuel through a government-to-government agreement with Kenya following the fuel supply crisis that has persisted since last year.
The Kenyan government had a government-to-government agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which President Lazarus Chakwera reached out to last year in the quest to address Malawi’s fuel supply problem once and for all.
When Kenya pulled out of the agreement, Malawi jumped on it, hence the government procured the 51 million litres of fuel through a government-to-government agreement with Kenya.
On his part, National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) spokesperson Raymond Likambale said the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) is now responsible for fuel supply.
Mera Chief Executive Officer Henry Kachaje concurred with Kunkuyu that fuel was available at the port.
He, however, said there were challenges in transporting the 51 million litres of fuel that were procured in December 2024 because it had to be transported to the country.
He said the consignment arrived on December 29 2024 through the port of Tanga in Tanzania.
“The real challenge at the moment is logistics. We need a minimum of 80 trucks loading daily.
“Unfortunately, during the first two weeks of operations, only an average of 17 trucks have been loading [fuel] per day,” Kachaje said.
He said they were doing their best to ensure that there were adequate trucks available.
“Arrangements are being made to engage more trucking companies to speed up the transportation of the fuel into the country as quickly as possible,” Kachaje said.
He further said Nocma had enlisted foreign transporters to assist with transporting the fuel to Malawi.
The country’s fuel supply remains unstable, as some fuelling stations are yet to be receive their normal daily supply requirements due to the reported shortage of fuel transporters.
On his part, Fuel Transporters Association Secretary Mwiza Chawinga said the challenge is that the majority of transporters were using the Beira route in Mozambique.
He said the route in question is closer to Malawi than Tanga in Tanzania.
He said using Tanga therefore increases the turnover.
“We have over 1,000 tankers in Malawi, of which majority were allocated to Mozambique corridors. So, some are now changing the paperwork to start using the northern corridor. However, in the northern part, the Swahili take time to process the paperwork, which is also making other delays,” Chawinga said.
Loading from the port of Tanga in Tanzania began on January 4.
As at January 18 2025, only 4.2 million litres of the 51.5 million litres had been delivered to the country.
Recently, Consumers Association of Malawi Executive Director John Kapito told The Daily Times that it was the government’s responsibility to deal with challenges that Malawians were facing.
“It is the government’s responsibility to make sure that people access fuel using any means government can use to bring fuel into the country,” Kapito said.
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