Relevant stakeholders, financial institutions, and development partners must also work together to foster an environment that encourages private sector participation in water transportation.
- Recent economic growth and development within Southern and Eastern Africa have created positive opportunities to expand water transport services.
- Water transport through inland waterways and shorter sea distances has the potential to improve continental interoperability in Africa.
- Future investment partners should offer easier and better water transport financial facilities.
Enhancing continental interoperability through water transport
Water transport through inland waterways and shorter sea distances has the potential to improve continental interoperability in Africa.
It can transform the economies of African countries, especially island and landlocked states. However, adequate support and an enabling management framework are needed.
The integration of maritime transport into the fabric of the African continent improves connectivity. Connectivity is essential for enabling trade under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), implementing the green agenda, improving food security, and providing youth employment.
Water transport offers an option for green logistics chains across the continent. It shifts part of the cargo and passenger traffic to this alternative mode of transportation, potentially developing port towns and cities.
Issues of finance, governance, and low involvement of the private sector still hinder the development of the water transportation sector. Without joining the shipping strategy of the regions (and, indeed, the entire continent), island nations will continue to be less competitive and face marginalization as the planet becomes more globalized.
There is a need for urgent complementary action. Notably, there is a need for investment in the creation of indigenous shipping companies to offer reliable and affordable services, connecting island states with mainland countries.
In recent deliberations, industry sectors remain united in calling for more significant investment in maritime transport in Africa. In addition, development partners highlighted the issue of mobilizing development resources.
African leadership must play a leading role in improving water transport
As a necessary condition for the full integration of the continent’s mainland, the heads of African countries and continental organizations must be aware of their obligation to identify solutions that will solve the weak maritime connection. in African Island states.
Governments must recognize the timeliness of developing efficient, safe and reliable inland waterway transport (IWT) and short-sea shipping (SSS) services in Africa. In addition, there is a need for the continent to dedicate significant support to these sectors. Water transport requires much less investment than road transport. However, it has the potential to open up various social, economic and environmental opportunities.
Continental organizations, such as the Council of the African Union and the AfCFTA secretariat, should lead the consultation process to form regional and continental initiatives to address the lack of good maritime services to and from the countries of African islands.
Public decision-makers at the continental, national and regional levels must successfully manage the regulatory framework and the physical aspects of inland waterway transport infrastructure, which are essential for the sustainable growth of the industry.
Relevant stakeholders, financial institutions, and development partners must also work together to foster an environment that encourages private sector participation in water transportation. Relevant financial institutions and investment partners should facilitate the mobilization of funds and provide the necessary resources to support the successful implementation of water transport infrastructure in Africa.
In addition, future investment partners should provide easier and better financial facilities. This is in line with the size of the potential project and the needs of investors and promoters to expand their operations across the continent.
Water transport investment opportunities in Africa
The demand for water transportation services is an acquired demand. This is because technology is not desired for its own sake but for the services it provides to the economy. Therefore, any change in the size of the economy will result in a more significant potential for cargo growth and increased demand for sea transportation.
Recent economic growth and development within Southern and Eastern Africa have created positive opportunities to expand water transport services. Due to the impressive economic growth in East Africa, where countries such as Tanzania and Ethiopia have experienced exceptional growth rates higher than the regional and continental levels, there is a hope of expanding traffic in freight. Some of the ports in the sub-region are experiencing capacity constraints and congestion.
The worldwide standard for port dwell time is no more than seven days. In East Africa, however, cargo often remains at the port for more than a week. The result is port congestion and inefficiency. This is particularly evident in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. The total cargo and container traffic of the two ports exceeded the designed capacity.
In terms of container traffic, Port Sudan also suffers from capacity limitations. All three of these ports have reached their maximum capacity for dry-bulk cargo. There is some potential to ease capacity restrictions by improving port performance, but in the long run, more investment is needed.
Industrial parks
The development and quality of various ways that link the maritime system, such as ports, have a direct relationship with the observed performance of water transport. Therefore, the availability of such means is also important to demand more from the economy and perhaps from water.
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So sea transport services or any other means is an acquired demand that is not demanded by itself but because of the services it provides. One of the important constraints to the development of water transport is the availability of cargo. That is the only factor that can guarantee the economic viability of the projects.
The observed impressive economic growth in Eastern and Southern Africa makes a strong basis or justification for the improvement and expansion of transport services. In countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, industrial parks play a leading role in ensuring that cargo is available when it is finished.
Thus, Africa needs investments in industrial parks. The design should be complete and holistic approach. The approach will ensure a systematic link between ports, industrial areas and sources of raw materials. Therefore, despite the need to invest in the improvement and expansion of the port, the world-class industrial parks that cover major sectors such as textiles, sugar production, textiles, leather, and pharmaceutical agro-processing such as tea , coffee, and sisal should be developed.
Tanzania is currently implementing a major industrialization drive, while Kenya and Ethiopia have already made some progress. More efforts are still needed to improve farming and the export of major cash crops. These cash crops include sisal, coffee, cotton, tea, and tobacco. Plants are plentiful and likely to increase demand for transportation services and the economy. In this way, water transport projects will ensure that there are cargoes and achieve a period of investment to pay off in this area.
