Investment in infrastructure
is supporting the significant
trade growth on the continent,
says Dave Everett, Africa key
account manager for Safmarine.
This involves upgrades of
existing ports and in some cases
construction of new ports.
“The development at the Port of
Badagry in Nigeria’s Lagos State
is one example of investment into
port infrastructure,” he said.
At full build-out, the
greenfields deep-water fullservice
port will be one of the
largest in Africa with 7km
of quay and 1000 hectares of
dedicated yard. It will include
state-of the-art facilities for
container, bulk, liquid bulk,
ro-ro and general cargo as well
as oil and gas operations support
and a barge terminal. In time
this port will have the ability to
berth and work the 18 000-TEU
EEE class vessels, taking Africa
into the big league.
“There are developments at
the Lekki Deep Sea Port that
will also significantly address
capacity. This project is
expected to be operational by
2017,” he said.
With container traffic
to Africa expected to grow
significantly in the next few
years, building the necessary
infrastructure is crucial if the
continent is to benefit in the
long term.
“Real efforts are under way to
address demand and capacity,”
he said.
In fact, ports are increasingly
vying with each other to grab
business as they try to establish
transhipment hubs and entice
lines to use their facilities.
Everett said an increased
focus on commodity exports
including cocoa, rubber, timber,
coffee and cotton was expected
while projects typically for the
mining, energy, infrastructure
and communications sectors
were driving imports.
“In many ways it has been
an exceptionally good year for
Africa, with Zimbabwe delivering
a bumper tobacco crop and South
Africa exporting more apples
than ever before to Nigeria,” he
said. “The Ebola virus, however,
is likely to continue to have an
effect in West Africa well into
2015. And we are going to have
to monitor the situation very
carefully. Both Safmarine and
Maersk are maintaining their
coverage of West Africa through
restructured Europe-Waf strings
to accommodate port berthing
restrictions.”
CAPTION
An artist’s rendering of Nigeria’s Lekki
Deep Sea Port to be operational by 2017.
