The Major Economic Importance of African Ports
The Major Economic Importance of African Marine Ports
As a preferred supplier of chandlery services to several clients that dock in our African marine ports, Link Ships Chandlers has a vested interest in the sustainability of the continent’s marine trade. We have always believed that placing a focus on the development of marine ports and related infrastructure has the potential to bolster the region’s economic stability at large, and we are happy to note that it seems that important economic commentators, such as Gilbert Saggia (MD East Africa at SAP Africa) agree.
Here is a concise summary of an article he recently prepared for Bizcommunity, referencing this matter:
Current statistics indicate that up to 90 percent of the imports and exports to and from the African continent is driven by sea, and this is only set to increase in coming years. Due to the rapidly increasing consumption demands of an ever-burgeoning middle class, international freighter fleet is expected to double over the course of the next ten years. If Africa wants a slice of this lucrative pie, the underdevelopment of infrastructure and insufficient logistics operations that leads to sizeable losses in potential revenue has to be addressed as soon as possible.
At the moment, Africa only manages 1% of the 72% of world container throughput that includes developing countries on its marine route, and yet this trade still plays a significant role in job creation and economic stimulation. If we could increase this percentage to 3% it has the potential to increase the continent’s value of trade by sea to the equivalent of the GDP of certain developing countries.
The issues holding back sea trade on the African continent include:
- Long cargo clearance times.
- Underdeveloped basic port and hinterland infrastructure.
- The use of dated equipment and low levels of automation.
- Container & cargo theft.
What is being done to address these challenges:
- Global donor organisations are funding the development of various African trade corridors. This includes port infrastructure capacity expansions such as parking lot expansions, deepening of canals and the widening of basins.
- Optimising the utilisation of existing resources to improve cargo throughput to become more profitable.
- Leveraging technology to drive productivity improvements.
- Leveraging hub logistics, transportation management solutions, and connected warehouse offerings, to accelerate the rate of information exchange across the multiple stakeholders in the port value chain, and conduct real-time performance monitoring of key assets.
If these measures are put in place and maintained by the relevant roleplayers, African ports could very well become a pivotal aspect of the continent’s economic growth. Keep your eye on the Link Ships Chandlers blog in coming months, as we discuss more shipping-related topics, and learn more about the vital role our shipping ports have to play in our economy.
Leave a Reply