Cargo travelling from port to city in landlocked sub-Saharan African countries generally spends 75% more time at the port than on the road, according to statistics released by the African Development Bank.
Even though the state of roads in Africa is poor, ports continue to contribute significantly to transport delays, said Drepoba Leandre Sery, manager at the Port of Abidjan.
Sery was quoted by Port Technology as saying, “cargo spends nearly three weeks on average in sub-Saharan African ports, compared to less than a week in large ports in Europe, Latin America and Asia.”
Admou Saley Abdourahamane, the secretary general of the Union of African Shippers Council, noted that poor port capacity and logistics could not handle the increasing traffic across most of Africa, causing congestion and adding to the marginalisation of the continent from international markets.
