‘No easy solutions to customs issues’

West Africa’s booming oil and gas sector has seen cargo volumes increase, and this has resulted in huge knock-on investment flow in the region. According to David Butler, managing director of Control Risks SA, the flow of investment into general infrastructure and associated oil and gas industry sectors has been significant. “It is a trend that we see across Africa,” he said. According to Howie Frylinck of DB Schenker, there has been a dramatic increase in cargo volumes into West Africa in recent years. “There has also been an increase in international companies entering the market and competition has increased dramatically.” He said countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Angola were continuing to attract attention. “It is not necessarily easy to estimate the boom we are seeing in terms of volumes and revenues but activity is on the increase.” Reynold Pinto, DHL oil and energy manager for Sub Saharan Africa, agreed saying not only were project cargo volumes increasing but also general cargo as fast moving consumer goods businesses were setting up shop in West Africa. Both Pinto and Frylinck said customs issues continued to hamper the movement of cargo into the region as procedures were often long and drawn out. “There are no easy solutions to the problems experienced around customs,” he said. “Port efficiency remains a challenge and often bottlenecks exist and moving cargo can be tedious and slow.” While there is consensus amongst the experts that countries in West Africa are trying to address issues around customs and improving the efficiency of ports and border posts, the lack of infrastructure plays a big role. “Infrastructure is lacking and it often results in the delays. In Luanda in Angola for instance there is so much congestion that cargo is just being dumped, and trying to track down a container can take days. There is no system in place and every second that one is delayed adds to the bill.” According to Butler, there are no easy answers to the many challenges, but as the oil and gas boom continues there is hope for the region. INSERT & CAPTION 1 Big growth in general cargo as fast moving consumer goods businesses set up shop in West Africa. – Reynold Pinto INSERT & CAPTION 2 There has been an increase in international companies entering the market and competition has increased dramatically. – Howie Frylinck