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Mining developments in sub-Saharan Africa are boosting the continent’s infrastructure, which supply chain operators have been crying out for, but significant gaps remain.
Data from the OECD shows more than $155bn will be required for upgrades in port, rail, and road infrastructure over the next decade if the sub-Sahara region “is to meet its potential”, but with multiple projects already under way, there are positive signs.
DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa CEO Hennie Heymans told The Loadstar: “We’ve seen enormous improvement. If you go to Kenya, there’s an incredibly smooth new highway, which is partly what’s driving the growth in that economy.
“If you look at Ethiopia, it is building €15bn airport in Addis Ababa. Rwanda, one of the smallest countries, is building a €4bn airport. If you talk about Nigeria, you talk about Lagos and Abuja. We see fantastic improvements in infrastructure.”
And this investment is having real world logistics implications, with journeys between Nairobi and Addis Ababa, that previously took upwards of a week, down to 24 hours; while an eight-lane highway has dropped domestic journeys from four hours to mere minutes.
Much of the spur behind this has been new mining operations, necessitating the development of roads, port improvements, and services to support them.
Also, forwarders in the region believe the arrival of mining presents opportunities for developing trade in the region, with the growth of secondary cities around the sites set to lead to commercial centres and provoke new demand for logistics.
Mr Heymans is not naïve over the changes still needed, noting that “there is still an infrastructural deficit”, but he said it would be remiss not to recognise the level of improvement that has taken place over the past decade.