Companies in the freight industry that do not have an African strategy and network are in danger of being left out of a potential boom. Reports released over the past few weeks share a common theme – the resurgence of the African economies. The World Bank, the African Development Bank, MasterCard Worldwide Insights and Moody’s Investors’ Service, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) have all published reports that highlight opportunities in Africa. The Unctad report sees logistics as one of the “particularly promising” sectors in what it describes as “African Achievers”. High logistics costs are one of the biggest challenges facing manufacturing in Africa. However, a growing local market could stimulate revival, with transport being one of the major beneficiaries. According to the World Bank, growth in sub- Saharan Africa accelerated from an annual average rate of less than 2% from 1978 to 1995 to about 6% over 2003 to 2008. There are however two obstacles to stronger and sustained growth. One, which is well known to anyone moving freight in Africa, is the poor quality of transport and communication infrastructure. The second is that the level of trade between countries is low. This is partly due to the poor infrastructure.
