A greater degree of regional port planning would make it possible to select hubs large enough to offer efficient transshipment services. A hub system would help to lower transport costs.
On the East African coastline, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam compete as regional transshipment points, but both face severe capacity constraints in the short term. In southern Africa, Durban struggles to handle its own national traffic and experiences recurring crises of berth congestion during the peak season, with shipping lines threatening to reintroduce a surcharge for berthing delays. On the West African coast, Abidjan has enjoyed some success as a container transshipment center, but this port has suffered from the internal strife in the country and from problems tied to ownership of operating rights for the container terminal. As a result, some shipping lines have begun to use Spanish or Moroccan ports as alternative transshipment hubs for West Africa.
TThe rate of use of Africa’s port capacity is estimated at 80 percent, where it is likely to remain for the foreseeable future. However, several ports suffer from low capacity, particularly in terminal storage, maintenance, and dredging capability.
Map of African ports showing their scale