Trucks in Africa as fast as a horse and cart

Poor infrastructure and red tape have slowed truck transport speeds in Africa down to the speed of horse-drawn carts. Ineffective linkages between different transport modes (air, road, and rail), declining air connectivity, poorly equipped ports, ageing rail networks, and inadequate access to all-season roads are the key problems facing Africa’s transport system, according to a new World Bank study “Africa's Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation”. It adds that “limited competition in the trucking industry keeps road freight tariffs unnecessarily high, while red tape along international trade corridors keeps the movement of freight below 12 kilometres an hour – as fast as a horse and a buggy – even though truck speeds can be 60 km/hour”.