Kenya is increasingly challenging South Africa’s gateway status on the continent, with the Port of Mombasa recording enormous growth in container traffic over the past six years. Volumes at the port went up from 900 000 TEUs in 2012 to 1.2 million in 2017, according to Mombasa port chairman James Mwangi. Meanwhile, the Kenya Ports Authority recently announced plans to handle two million containers at the port by 2022, increasing from 30 to 45 million tonnes per year. The East African country was becoming more and more attractive as an alternative entry point for trade from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, said Africa House director, Duncan Bonnett. “More importantly, it allows countries and companies to the north of South Africa the luxury of looking at supplier options for goods outside a dependence on South Africa,” he said. Road networks around the port are also currently being expanded, along with the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi. Earlier this year the port took delivery of new equipment for the handling of dry bulk cargo which is expected to speed up ship turnaround time and reduce port charges and carbon emissions. In addition, Kenya was able to overtake South Africa as the number one avocado exporter on the continent thanks to a 10% growth rate, alongside a 25% depreciation in South Africa’s stake in the avocado market. Bonnett said that this was just another example of how African countries, and small-scale farmers, could become world-class suppliers of products to demanding markets around the world. He noted that it also showed how many countries on the continent were developing sectors and products suitable for international markets while South Africa was stagnating in policy and political uncertainty. An industry source however pointed out that whilst Kenya had displaced South Africa as the largest exporter of avocados from Africa in 2017, this was not the case for 2018. “2017 was a rest year for South African avocado trees and was made worse by the 2016/17 northern drought,” he said. He noted that South Africa’s avocado sector would get bigger each year as development was massive in this sector. “East Africa as a whole is evolving quickly, whether ports, roads, rail, or telecoms and ICT infrastructure, making it a more attractive market in itself. But it’s also an attractive alternative to South Africa’s ports which may be quite a bit further away from the target destinations in the EAC and the growing hinterland markets of eastern DRC, Zambia and Malawi,” added Bonnett. “The danger lies in the fact that the more reliable alternative logistics chains become, the less reliant our trade partners in the rest of Africa will be on South Africa for the supply of goods and services, leaving us as a subregional gateway. “It’s already happening and will only accelerate if South Africa can’t or won’t react to this.”
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The more reliable alternative logistics chains become, the less reliant our trade partners in the rest of Africa will be on South Africa. – Duncan Bonnett
