Ports are not stand-alone logistics gateways. They are dependent on the land-based infrastructure which links them to the main suppliers and markets in the region the port serves.In the main, port operators are being let down in Africa. The poor quality of Africa’s transport infrastructure accounts for 40% of logistics costs in coastal countries and 60% in landlocked countries, according to a policy note by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).Changes also have to be made to ports and their supporting logistics networks to adapt to changing trade f lows.According to a World Bank report, Africa’s trade has slowly trended away from developed countries and toward emerging economies over the past decade. Whereas Western European countries accounted for the bulk of Africa’s trade in the late 20th century, countries like China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Turkey have since grown in importance as export destinations for the resource-rich economies. Emerging economies have also become origins of a significant share of imports for nearly all African countries, the total trade of the latter with China increasing 20-fold in the last two decades. “The changing trade relationships and needs require that Africa’s external transport connections evolve as well,” write the authors, Martin Humphreys et al.Despite the challenges, importers and exporters based in southern Africa have a lower cost base than many of their competitors elsewhere on the continent.It is almost twice as expensive to ship a container from New York to Lagos compared with shipping to South Africa, even though Nigeria is much closer, according to online rate calculator MoverDB.comBut, it is cheaper to move a container from London to Apapa and Mombasa than it is to Cape Town. Dar es Salaam is only marginally more expensive.
