Cape route emerges as viable alternative to Suez

An assessment of the routing flexibility of container shipping has found that that the Cape of Good Hope route has the potential to emerge as a viable alternative to the Suez Canal route for 11 South–South trade lanes – a number of which serve West Africa. According to the 2011 Review of Maritime Transport by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), these trades are West Africa–Oceania,West Africa–East Africa, East Coast South America– Oceania and East Coast South America–East Africa. From the perspective of shipping, however, these trends raise crucial questions and uncertainties, according to the report. Trade with West Africa and other regions will be affected by “the future and the shape of globalisation in view of a potential growth in regionalisation; the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations; proliferating trade agreements; possible growth of trade protectionism; efforts of balancing global economic growth and trade flows; and the complex nexus between energy security, oil prices, transport costs, climate change and generally environmental sustainability”. The trend has already seen a growth in container traffic from China to West Africa “to the detriment of Europe,” says the report.