Africa’s container imbalance conundrum challenges logistics industry

Shipping lines’ reluctance to
allow containers to travel into
the hinterland is one of the
logistics challenges facing
shippers in Africa.
According to Mark
Gunther, managing director
of Karabo Africa, there are
various reasons for this.
“One of course is security.
Lines would prefer their
boxes to remain at the ports
which means that often
goods have to be repacked
into self-owned or rented
containers and then moved
to the various locations.
Another reason is that there
is a discrepancy in the
volumes of containerised
cargo going out and coming
back which makes it a costly
affair – there is very little
cargo coming back in the
containers.”
Gunther says a lot of
project cargo is strategically
fitted into containers but
once delivered to a mine,
for example, boxes often
have to return empty to the
port. “The mining product is
seldom packed in containers
at the mine due to additional
weight of containers.”
He says finding ways of
overcoming such challenges
is what makes the difference.