22 Corridors December 2020/January 2021CorridorsShort-sea shipping (SSS) corridors are unlikely to replace the inland road and rail links in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), according to a study.It was compiled by academics from the universities of Gothenburg and Cape Town.The five authors conclude that, while there is “theoretical potential to work in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) given the large geographic region, projected freight volumes, and customs and trade policies the SADC region is pursuing,” they conclude that opportunities for SSS may not be clearly visible. Such a system, they say, would have three main roles: to offer unimodal freight transport between port cities, to offer the main leg of an intermodal route, and to offer feeder services to deep sea shipping in a hub-and-spoke cycle. “However, freight transport in the SADC region has a number of shortfalls that need to be addressed — of note, port competitiveness, customs provisions, and policies for intraregional trade.“Freight transport in the SADC region is furthermore characterised by extreme polarisation in favour of road transport.“The setup translates into a situation in which there are numerous negative externalities, including a high rate of transport-related accidents, road congestion, high infrastructure expenditure, and environmental damage,” state the authors.According to the World Health Organization, the risk of dying as a result of a traffic injury is highest in Africa. The authors are not confident that rail will provide an answer: “Historic developments regarding rail have made it unlikely that rail will ever again be a serious competitor to road unless reforms address the poor and declining performance of rail and its reputedly poor reliability in terms of safety and timeliness in the region.”The main constraints to SSS in the SADC region are identified as inefficient ports, high port charges, and customs red tape – none of which require major investment to change.Commercially, the constraint is that the major concentrations of population in the region are far from the ports – which means that they remain dependent on inland road and rail corridors.“For SSS to be viable, it needs to appeal to both the shipper who procures the transport service and the maritime carrier who conducts the SSS transport service,” the authors state.
