86. Seaports are fundamental international trade outlets for both coastal and landlocked countries. Sea transport has a significant cost advantage over surface transport for dry and liquid bulk cargoes or containerized cargo.
87. The importance of maritime transport arises from the fact that over 90 per cent of international trade transits through ports. Maritime transport is even more dominant in Africa, as it accounts for over 92 per cent of the continent's international trade. However, poorly maintained port infrastructure and inefficient operations remain major bottlenecks for African trade.
88. With a total coastline of 30,725 km, Africa has 90 major ports, accounting for over 95 per cent of its international import and export trade. Its major ports are shown on the Trans-African Highway map (figure 3).
89. African ports handle only 6 per cent of global traffic. No more than six ports, three in Egypt and three in South Africa, handle about 50 per cent of Africa's container traffic.
90. The Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, in its study of 73 ports in sub-Saharan Africa, identified port capacity limitations and lack of institutional reforms as two important constraints that must be addressed without delay if African ports are to contribute effectively to Africa's international trade.
91. In other parts of the world, containerization has been growing at a rapid rate, with cargoes such as break-bulk goods, food grain, edible oils and liquid commodities increasingly being carried in containers.
92. Africa's port productivity is low compared with the rest of the world. It is estimated that average productivity in African ports stands at about 30 per cent of the international norm. Poor management together with limited and poorly maintained equipment account for the low productivity.
93. Recent studies on port performance carried out by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), indicate that although some African ports have improved their productivity over the past few years, mainly through port liberalization programmes, much more needs to be done to raise the productivity to international standards.
94. An important performance indicator for port operations is vessel dwell time.
According to NEPAD-AU studies, the average dwell time in a number of major African ports is about 11 days, three times the average in the ports of other developing regions. Douala in Central Africa, Dar es-Salaam in Eastern Africa, Beira and Maputo in Southern Africa and Guinea in West Africa have the highest dwell times. Dwell times in selected major ports are indicated in table 7.
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Table 7: Dwell times in major African ports
Subregions/ports Dwell time (days)
Central Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo 6
Douala 19
Gabon 15
Eastern Africa
Dares-Salaam 15
Djibouti 10
Mombasa 12
Southern Africa
Beira 10
Durban 5
Maputo 10
West Africa
Banjul 5
Conakry 15
Dakar 9
Source: Study undertaken by AfDB and the NEPAD secretariat on the Medium-Long-Term Strategic Framework, 2004.
95. According to UNCTAD's Review of Maritime Transport for 2006, the volume of goods loaded and unloaded in African ports was estimated to be 860 million tons per year, giving the continent a share of about 2.1 per cent in the world total.
96. Similarly, container ships account for less than 2 per cent of the African merchant fleet, the vast majority being conventional cargo ships. The main shipping lines that service long-distance sea routes consider most of Africa's coastal traffic as subsidiary to their traditional overseas activities.
97. The UNCTAD review also showed goods loaded by vessels owned by African countries to total 230 million tons per year on average, with unloaded cargo averaging 70 million tons. This clearly shows the considerable imbalance between inbound and outbound cargo traffic.
98. With regard to fleet condition, the UNCTAD report indicated that by the end of 2005 the average age of the African merchant fleet, including major open-registry countries, was 11.8 years and was therefore lower than the average for the world merchant fleet, which was 12.2 years. However, the average age of the fleet without taking into account major open-registry countries was higher (20.5 years).
In both cases UNCTAD reported that container ships were the youngest, at 6.9 and
12.3 years respectively, while general-cargo ships were the oldest at 17.3 and 22.1 years respectively.
99. There are new developments in international shipping that are likely to affect many African ports negatively. As the round-the-world services take shape, many African ports may experience downgrading in routing plans. African ports are not located on the main international maritime transport routes - Asia/North America Pacific), Asia/Europe-Mediterranean and North America-Mediterranean (trans-Atlantic). Already, African cargo destined for North America is taken to European ports in order to link up with round-the-world services northbound or southbound through the Suez Canal.
100. This trend will eventually affect the nature of shipping to and from the region.
It may turn out to be advantageous in fostering the economies of scale desired by the large shipping lines and reducing the cost to shippers. The cost of shipping freight from East Africa to Europe using round-the-world services is about $900 per 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU), whereas the normal liner rate is between $1,500 and $2,000 perTEU.
101. The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation called on States to ratify or accede to and implement the conventions, protocols and other instruments of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) relating to the enhancement of maritime safety and protection of the marine environment from marine pollution and environmental damage caused by ships (including the use of toxic anti-fouling paints). The Plan also refers to efforts to urge IMO to consider stronger mechanisms to secure the implementation of IMO instruments by flag States.