South Sudan

South Sudan is the longest and most demanding supply line EMM runs in Africa. Equipment reaches Juba through Mombasa and the Northern Corridor, a road journey of well over 1,500 km, or through Port Sudan when that route is open. Nothing about it is quick. We plan these shipments as projects rather than orders: confirm the specification once, pack for a hard road, send spares and consumables in the same container, and build the schedule with real contingency in it.

What is needed

Water and power come first and account for a large share of what we ship - borehole drilling rigs and consumables, submersible pumps, storage tanks, treatment and chlorination units, diesel generator sets, solar arrays and battery banks. Food processing is the next layer: grain milling, oil expelling, bakery plant, water bottling and juice filling for Juba, Wau and Malakal. Construction and road works take concrete mixers, batching plants, block machines, compactors and crushing equipment. The oil fields in Unity and Upper Nile generate demand for pumps, valves, compressors, welding plant and field workshop tooling. Agriculture, on some of the most fertile land in the region, buys tractors-attachment implements, threshers, maize shellers and irrigation sets.

Specification discipline

There is effectively no manufacturer service network here, so the machine has to be field-repairable by a competent mechanic with ordinary tools. We choose mechanical over electronic control where there is a choice, standardise on common engine and bearing sizes, and ship a wear-parts kit as standard rather than as an option. Grid power, where there is any, is 230 V single phase and 400 V three phase at 50 Hz, but we assume generator supply unless told otherwise.

Talk to us early. On this route the specification conversation is worth more than the price negotiation.