Africa trade not mature enough for set services
Jonathan Boonzaier
4 November 2005
Tradewinds

Visitors to Dubai International Airport will immediately notice the large number of African traders with vast amounts of luggage waiting to board flights to their home countries.

A drive past the enormous cargo depot at the same airport will reveal many ancient Boeing 707 and 727 freighters waiting to carry consumer goods to these same African countries.

As Dubai is a major hub for the African trading community, it comes as something of a surprise to the casual observer that there are very few container services between the Middle East and Africa.

Liner companies questioned by TradeWinds say that trade to Africa is not yet developed enough to justify the existence of regular containerised liner services. They say the transport is seasonal and inconsistent - and therefore not suitable to a regular service.

"There are cargoes available but these are more suitable for general cargo and break-bulk ships," said AM Elahinia, former managing director of IRISL Asia.

Tilahun Yimer, Ethiopian Shipping Line's (ESL) Dubai-based regional representative, concurs. "The ports and markets that we serve are not sophisticated or affluent enough to support full containerisation. There is still a high level of infrastructure development taking place, which makes multipurpose vessels more suitable for the type of cargo carried," he explained.

While both IRISL and ESL operate semi-regular break-bulk services between Africa and the Middle East, they are not without stiff competition.

Scattered around the backstreets of Deira in Dubai are a host of small shipping and trading companies that operate one or two general cargoships to various destinations along the east coast of Africa.

These small, elderly vessels at the bottom of the shipping chain can be found in almost every Middle East port, although they are often overshadowed by the large, modern containerships belonging to liner majors. Nevertheless, they carry a significant percentage of the cargo moving into Africa.

They compete fiercely with the wooden cargo dhows that operate as far afield as Zanzibar and the Comoros Islands.

Industry observers say that although ignored by the rest of the shipping industry, these small general cargoships and dhows still play a vital part in Dubai and Africa's trading economy and will be around for a long time yet.

Ivorian port strike forces ships away, revenue hit

ABIDJAN, June 10 (Reuters) - A dockers' strike at Ivory Coast's main Abidjan port has forced around 50 ships to go elsewhere, potentially causing a shortage of basic goods at home and in land-locked neighbours, officials said on Wednesday.

The industrial action, which began early last week but initially had little impact, has cost the world's biggest cocoa grower as much as $200 million in lost revenues, a customs official who asked not to be named told Reuters.

"The amount of money lost since the start of the strike is close to 100 billion CFA francs ($215 million) because there are losses for customs, handling charges and for the port itself," the official said.

Marcel Gossio, the port's managing director, said ships were being forced to dock at rival ports, which could result in price hikes for imported goods in Ivory Coast as well as in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, its land-locked neighbours.

Dockers at the port of Abidjan have been on strike since last week over a pay dispute. The row escalated on Monday when Ivorian police fired tear gas at dockers trying to prevent workers hired to replace them from doing their job.

"We've counted at least 50 ships that have gone to neighbouring ports. They can't come and waste time here because of the strike," said a port official who asked not to be named.

Cocoa exporters in the nation that produces about 40 percent of the world's output said earlier this week they were already beginning to feel the impact of the strike. But they were unable to give any figures on how much volume was being affected.

"This unexpected and sudden shut-down by the dockers has led to ships going to rival ports, supplies to national and regional businesses being cut off, a slow down in business and a reduction in state revenues," Gossio said in a statement.

"These are all factors that could lead to a shortage in basic supplies for our population, the people of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, and an increase in market prices," said the statement, published in pro-government daily Fraternite Matin.

About half of Ivory Coast's cocoa exports pass through Abidjan. Provisional port data showed on Wednesday that cocoa bean exports totalled 753,116 tonnes from October to May of the 2008/09 season.

Overall arrivals at Ivorian ports reached around 1,028,000 tonnes by June 7, exporters estimated on Monday.