Intra-Africa container trade boost
One-stop border plan working
CONTAINER shipping company, Maersk, said yesterday that the container sector was seeing an uptick in intra-Africa trade, because most long-standing internal trade barriers were beginning to fall.
David Williams, chief executive of Maersk Line Africa, said the most recent progress in this regard was the increasing implementation of the onestop border post concept across the continent.
In this concept, two countries jointly operate a border crossing to remove the usual two-step process, simplifying the procedural requirements for intra-Africa trade.
Williams said in a statement that the steadfast progress in the container trade market over time across Africa was being recognised.
“Intra-Africa trade, which acts as a catalyst for growth across the continent, saw an uptick over the past year – largely due to the recovery of the oil price. It is important to note how many African countries are still fundamentally oil-dependent, like Nigeria and Angola,” Williams said.
Dependency
Maersk Line is the world’s largest container shipping company, providing ocean transportation globally.
Williams said increased foreign investment was beginning to reduce the dependency on oil for some of these countries.
“A prime example of this is the trend among Chinese tile exporters in shipping out their machinery to establish manufacturing plants in West Africa,” Williams said.
“As construction gains momentum as a result of these projects, the firms will look to export tiles from one African country to another, further boosting intra-regional trade.”
Williams said that the benefits of increased intra-Africa trade were vast and stretched far beyond just economic gain.
“In addition to diversifying the African economy to a greater extent, increased intra-regional trade results in the creation of better-quality employment and increased foreign investment, along with better bilateral trade – all of which will ultimately benefit the overall health of the continent and its people.”
Williams said that given the recent boost in intra-regional trade and the ripple effect of growth to be expected from this, the outlook for Africa remained optimistic. – ANA