Djibouti volumes almost double in six months

Unprecedented high growth rates – especially in the north of Africa – are creating major opportunities for the transport and logistics industry, Cyril Laubscher, IMPERIAL Logistics’ business development director for Africa, said. Speaking at the Trucker’s Forum in Johannesburg last week, Laubscher said the opportunities across the continent, especially in the north, should not be underestimated despite the challenges that still existed when it comes to doing business in Africa. “During a visit to Djibouti in 2011 we found they were moving some 390 000 containers per annum and wanted to grow this figure to about 1.1 million,” he said. “When we returned to the country at the end of last year volumes were already at 800 000 containers. In other words they had nearly achieved the target they had set for the next two years in less than six months. They had completely outgrown their container facility.” This, said Laubscher, was just one of the many examples of the growth happening at extremely high rates in Africa. “But if we really want to take advantage of these opportunities we have to bring down the cost of doing business on the continent and address some key challenges.” These include the lack of communication that has resulted in the various border posts not having the ability to speak to each other electronically as well as the lack of road and port infrastructure. “We also need to address the imbalance in import and export traffic, while Africa definitely needs to become more competitive. Without doubt the challenges are vast, but so are the opportunities.” He said while there were areas in which it was extremely difficult to operate, the opposite was also true with some areas being extremely easy to operate in.