Cost remains one of the biggest challenges for the African project cargo sector which sometimes has to operate in extremely difficult conditions with very limited equipment available. African project cargo experts told FTW that often ports did not have all the necessary equipment which meant it needed to be sourced from elsewhere, adding significantly to costs. “Many ports have the ability to berth a charter vessel with roll-on/roll-off functions, but the equipment required for the rolloff needs to be mobilised from elsewhere. In southern Africa this usually has to be done from South Africa at a very high cost. Sometimes manufacturers are advised to rather ship the cargo in parts and then assemble in the country of destination, but that has its own cost challenges as teams of technicians have to be sent to oversee this process.” An industry specialist said the major challenge for project cargo was therefore still the cost of getting the cargo to and from African ports. “Currently, finding a breakbulk service – especially from the Far East and from South Africa northbound along East and West Africa – is particularly challenging.” He said the lack of infrastructure in general along West and East Africa often made the movement of project cargo difficult. “Some ports will require that cargo is shipped with a geared vessel. Others don’t have access to cranes or crane capacity is not suitable for the cargo. This all causes the cost to increase with a ripple effect on the final costing for the project,” he said.
