East Africa tunes into multimodal benefits

Multimodal transport
solutions are gaining
traction in regions such
as East Africa where
commercial vehicle sales
are booming.
According to Ryan Bax,
an industry analyst of the
mobility team at Frost &
Sullivan Africa, reducing
freight times and costs
are a focus in East Africa
where major efforts are
under way to improve
efficiencies.
“Multimodal solutions,
using a combination of
trucks and rail, are being
implemented across
East Africa – and we’re
seeing this especially in
Kenya,” he said. “The
model is reducing the
cost extraordinarily and
improving freight mobility.
We expect this trend to
continue and we expect
to see more such
solutions across the
regions.”
The East African
Community (EAC)
has been focused on
developing transport
corridors which has
made experts very
bullish about the
region, according
to Byron Messaris,
senior industry
analyst at Frost &
Sullivan Africa.
“They have been
addressing congestion at
the ports and the handling
and overloading of trucks,
with standards and
regulations being put in
place. And their efforts
seem to be working,” he
said. “There is a lot of
optimism around East
Africa where we also expect
to see auto-manufacturing
investment booming.”
Commercial vehicle growth
in East Africa had been on the
increase, said Messaris.
“There is a definite
move towards owning and
procuring own fleets rather
than outsourcing – and this is
driving the commercial uptake
that we are seeing.”
He said almost half of
the vehicle sales in Kenya
were in the commercial
sector with trucks
in the 3.5- to
9-ton range
especially
popular. In
2014 just
over 4000
units were
sold in the
market.