Africa’s share of global maritime trade is dropping, due largely to poor port and landside logistics infrastructure, according to a number of reports. A study by Professor Godius Kahyarara and Debora Simon of the University of Dar-es-Salaam found that port delays in Africa accounted for over 70% of the time taken to move cargo, due to low crane productivity compared to the global averages and red tape. Added to that importers and exporters have to contend with inefficient rail and road networks. As a result, transport costs in Africa are higher than the global average by between 40% and 60%. The impact is captured in the 2019 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) Review of Maritime Transport. It says there has been a steady decline in Africa’s global share of goods loaded, “reflecting the reduced importance of traditional African exporters of liquid and dry bulk cargoes. “This was only partly compensated for by alternative raw material sources from Africa, not by Africa becoming more active in exporting goods with more value added and goods that are generally carried in containers. These include manufactured goods and processed food or industrial products,” it adds. Inefficient logistics means that Africa is not able to add value to its raw materials, and its manufacturing sector continues to underperform. The review points out that a large percentage of goods moved in Asia are components. In 2018, 41% of the total goods loaded in 2018 originated in Asia and 61% of total goods unloaded were received in the region. “Parts are generally manufactured in multiple locations across Asia and assembled in another location. This was not observed in Africa and only to a limited extent in Latin America,” it says. This puts more pressure on African economies. Kahyarara and Simon found that there were insufficient volumes for African shippers to benefit from economies of scale along the continent’s logistics value chains.
