Edmund Mingle
Back from Dakhla, Morocco
The absence of
an African Regional Shipping Line will continue to negatively affect regional
integration efforts and intra-African trade.
And the shipping
line, which is urgently needed to support the economies of African countries,
and optimize opportunities in the maritime industry, can be built through the
collaborative effort of all African countries.
This is the
conclusion reached at an international forum of experts in the maritime
industry at the just ended Crans Montana Forum held in Dakhla, Morocco.
The forum on
maritime, which was part of panel discussions held onboard a cruise ship, Grand
Navy Vessel (GNV) Rhapsody, while sailing from Dakhla to Casablanca, in
Moroccan waters, had the sub theme, “Improving the maritime industry’s global
impact on the African economy.”
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| The maritime forum in session on the GNV Rhapsody while sailing from Dakhla to Casablanca |
The Crans
Montana Forum, which was attended about a thousand participants from 131
countries and representatives of 27 regional and international organizations,
had the general theme, “Africa and south-south cooperation: towards a better
governance for sustainable economic and social development.”
Participants at
the maritime forum, which included managers of sea ports and shipping organisations,
as well as policy makers, business leaders, members of academia and economic
think tanks across Africa, were unanimous in their call for a continental
shipping line, without which African would continue to exploited by vessels
from other continents especially Europe.
The participants
believed that in view of the fact that all the national shipping lines which
were vibrant few decades ago have collapsed, except a few one such as Ethiopia
and Kenya which are also limping, there was the need for regional shipping
fleet that help to reduce the current high cost of maritime transport.
They indicated although Africa has the highest
freight, it remained more expensive to ship cargo from one African country in
the south to another in the north, than to a location in Europe, due to the
fact that European vessels have to be used.
“Africa needs to
rebuild its fleet,” said Adamou Saley Secretary General of the Union of African
Shippers Councils.
According to
Mrs. Cisse Fatoumata, Director General of the Guinean Naval Company, none of
the top 20 shipping companies operating in Africa, belong to Africa, a
situation which has contributed to the highest cost of shipment for Africans.
“If we really
want to do business in the spirit of regional cooperation and integration, then
we should be thinking of our continental shipping line,” she said.
Although the
participants admitted that the cost of building a shipping line was too huge
for any single country to handle, they believed it can be done through regional
collaborative effort.
Mohammed
Margaoui, President of MICG International Consulting Group, believed
governments could marshal resources from their private sectors for the
continental project which would be of immense benefit to the region.
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| The participants sailed on the GNV Rhapsody from Dakhla to Casablanca |
“Africa has
billionaires who can be mobilised to support the project, and be assured of the
safety of their investment,” he noted, adding that this could be done “in the
spirit of regional integration.”
Mrs. Naa Densua
Aryeetey, Head of Shipper Services at the Ghana Shippers’ Council, for her
part, indicated that Africa has the needed human resource capacity for the
maritime industry, and the availability of national and continental shipping
lines could provide jobs for many graduates in the sector.
Mrs. Aryeetey,
who is also the Africa Director for the Women’s International Shipping and
Trading Association, was confident that many of the investment and job creation
opportunities in the maritime industry could be harnessed through an effective
regional collaboration.
Apart from the
quest for a regional shipping fleet, the forum also discussed measures for
improvement of hinterland connections through the use of multi-modal sea, lake,
rail and road transport systems.
New challenges
for port development were also identified with the objective of linking ports
with rail to serve landlocked countries in the interest of regional
integration.
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