According to the latest Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) compiled by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), South Africa is the best-connected country in the region, followed by Mauritius and Angola.The LSCI is generated from the number of scheduled ship calls per week in the country; deployed annual capacity in twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs): total deployed capacity offered at the country; the number of regular liner shipping services from and to the country; the number of liner shipping companies that provide services from and to the country; the average size in TEU of the vessels deployed by the scheduled service with the largest average vessel size; and the number of other countries that are connected to the country through direct liner shipping services.The LSCI is an index set at 100 for the maximum value of country connectivity in the first quarter (Q1) of 2006, which was China.Regionally, South Africa has led the index for the past five years, with its score at first weakening and then strengthening by just over one point over the five-year period.The worst performer is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with importers and exporters in the country’s Copperbelt having to rely on the ports of Dares Salaam, Durban and Walvis Bay.For comparison Freight News has included three of the main trading partners, with China setting the benchmark.
