Transnet is embedding the “new normal” of the Covid-19 environment for the staff of its freight and transport operations and is dismantling a command centre it set up during the earlier lockdown to make it part of regular operations. CAPE TOWN – Transnet is embedding the “new normal” of the Covid-19 environment for the staff of its freight and transport operations and is dismantling a command centre it set up during the earlier lockdown to make it part of regular operations. This was according to Transnet chief executive Portia Derby, who spoke about the impact of the pandemic on the freight and logistics environment at an SA Transport Conference and International Road Federation-hosted webinar yesterday. Derby said the pandemic had a big impact on trade flows. Some vessels had been delayed at Cape Town harbour due to infections among port workers. Sometimes, vessels would by-pass Cape Town on their return route, and vessels calling at South African ports faced problems in meeting their European port schedules. At one stage, workers had to be brought in from Durban to help boost Cape Town’s port operations, she said. She said the transport and logistics sectors still faced some tough months. She questioned the view among many economists that gross domestic product (GDP) growth would suddenly recover to 3.1 percent in 2021, from the GDP decline of up to -9.3 percent that was expected this year. She said virtually every country in Africa with which Transnet dealt had a large budget deficit and high debt,...

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 15 – The Africa Union is betting on top digital solutions among them PanaBios – a bio-surveillance and bio-screening suite -, to ensure continuity of business in the region, in the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. The technology maps COVID-19 hotspots throughout the continent and builds risk models that create a base for standardized protocols to prevent transmission of the disease. Using similar risk models tied to testing across the continent, PanaBIOS makes it possible to verify the health status of international travelers across borders, at a time when air travel has resumed. The technology will see travelers use test results from one country to satisfy port clearance requirements in another country through their personal PanaBios app, which is already available on the PanaBIOS website. The technology will thus simultaneously help ease port congestion (by obviating the need for testing on arrival) and prevent importation of new Covid-19 cases at ports of entry. Furthermore, it provides the means to track vaccine administration and also adverse reactions, in a bid for transparency and confidence rebuilding in the wake of growing paranoia about vaccines. This will however only be important when vaccines for Covid-19 are widely available. Of more immediate use is the potential of the platform’s machine learning algorithms to serve as rapid screening measures to help with school reopening, workplace safety and cross-border travel through the meshing of testing-related data and geolocation intelligence. The move comes as African countries are getting ready to reopen their borders and...

The African Union announced that the first commercial deal under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to take place on January 1, 2021 as outstanding discussions will take place online. In April, the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Wamkele Mene said implementation of the free trade agreement will not be able to commence on July 1 as planned due to the disruptions occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic. The AU maintains that the AfCFTA will offer Africa an opportunity to reconfigure its supply chains, reduce reliance on others and speed up the establishment of regional value chains which will boost intra-Africa trade. A report by the World Bank said the successful implementation of AfCFTA would mitigate negative COVID-19 effects on economic growth by boosting regional trade and reducing trade costs. It added that most of the AfCFTA’s income gains are likely to come by cutting red tape and simplifying customs procedures. Furthermore, it said, the AfCFTA could also help increase resiliency to future economic shocks by replacing regional agreements, streamlining border procedures and prioritizing trade reforms. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the AfCFTA is, by the number of participating countries, the largest trade agreement since the formation of the World Trade Organisation. Its implementation will form a $3.4 trillion economic bloc with 1.3 billion people across the continent. Read the original article Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of TradeMark Africa.

The Regional Integration and Trade Division at United Nations Economic Commission for Africa released a report entitled “Facilitating cross-border trade through a coordinated African response to COVID-19”. The report provides a critical assessment of existing border restrictions and regulations, with a view to providing guidance on how to strike an appropriate balance between curbing the long term spread of the virus and facilitating emergency and essential trade, according to United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Stephen Karingi, Director of Regional Integration and Trade Division, commenting on the report, noted that COVID-19 may become the new normal for some time, forcing African Governments to adapt and innovate in order to facilitate new safe ways of conducting cross-border trade. Maintaining trade flows as much as possible during the pandemic will be crucial in providing access to essential food and medical items and in limiting negative impacts on jobs and poverty. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, nearly all African countries have imposed various degrees of restrictions on cross-border movement of goods and people, including suspension of international flights, quarantine requirements for entrants, and closures of land and maritime borders. Under a set of strict regulations, these closures target reducing movement of people while allowing exemptions for the movement of emergency and essential freight supplies. Such regulations typically cover mandatory testing, sanitizing trucks, limiting the numbers of crew members, and designating transit resting areas. These restrictions and regulations have helped in the continent’s COVID-19 battle, but they have also had negative impacts on cross-border trade...

14 August 2020: The Tech for Growth programme, launched by the Department for International Trade this week, aims to build trading opportunities between the UK and emerging economies. The UK Department for International Trade (DIT)’s new Tech for Growth programme will build future trading opportunities between the UK and emerging economies through the use of technology to expand access to financial services, the government announced this week. The programme will initially be piloted across Africa for a year. Access to financial services remains low across the continent; aound 60% of adults in sub-Saharan African still do not have access to traditional means of financial services, including banking and insurance. Mobile phone use has risen to over 40%, and the DIT believes that technology can play an increasing role in expanding access to financial services and other sectors. In that first year, the programme aims to establish a UK-Africa ‘Tech for Growth’ community, providing more access to financial services in underserved regions. It will include events across the UK and Africa to promote partnerships between British and African technology and financial services companies. It also looks to establish UK-Africa FinTech trade by highlighting commercial opportunities and addressing any hurdles that are holding back growth in that area. The DIT wants to establish close, collaborative relationships with African governments and regulators to help stimulate the growth of the tech sector across the continent. “Diversifying and increasing trade and investment in sectors such as tech will be crucial for economic recovery from Coronavirus,...

The WTO Secretariat has published a new information note warning of possible increases to trade costs due to COVID-19 disruptions. The note examines the pandemic’s impact on key components of trade costs, particularly those relating to travel and transport, trade policy, uncertainty, and identifies areas where higher costs may persist even after the pandemic is contained. The note estimates that travel and transport costs account for as much as a third of trade costs depending on the sector. Pandemic-related travel restrictions are therefore likely to affect trade costs for as long as they remain in place. For example, global air cargo capacity shrank by 24.6 per cent in March 2020, as passenger flights account for around half of air cargo volumes. The resulting increase in air freight prices is likely to subside only with a rebound in passenger transport, according to the report. While sea and land transport have not faced comparable shocks, maritime transport has seen a decrease in numbers of sailings, while international land transport has been affected by border closures, sanitary measures and detours. Moreover, business travel, which is important for maintaining trading relationships and managing global value chains, in addition to being a significant economic activity in its own right, is being disrupted. The quality of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and digital preparedness will be important in determining how well economies can cope. Trade policy barriers and regulatory differences are estimated to account for at least 10 per cent of trade costs in all...

DP World this week announced the completion of a 400-meter expansion of the Berbera port in Somaliland. The Dubai Port Company that is contracted to expand the port said once operational, it will increase the terminal’s capacity by 500,000 TEUs per year and further strengthen Berbera as a major regional trade hub servicing the Horn of Africa. In a tweet, DP World stated: “We have just completed a 400m quay and a new extension at Berbera Port, Somaliland. Once operational, it will increase the terminal’s capacity by 500,000 TEUs per year and will further strengthen Berbera as a major regional trade hub servicing the Horn of Africa.” The news has elicited excitement within the Somaliland government with the vice president Abdirahman Abdilahi saying: “As Deputy President of Somaliland and on behalf of the people, words can’t express my great excitement about the nearing completion of the Berbera port expansion. my gratitude goes to the Sheikhs of the UAE and the DP World.” DP world, the Dubai based world’s largest port operator is the key player in the rebuilding of Berbera, they have invested $442 million for the expansion of the port and are also the economic free zone. It has projected to complete work by February next year. In 2017 when the original agreement was signed, the CEO of DP World Mr. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem drew a parallel between the growth of Dubai and the development path Somaliland is on and added “Our vision is to make Berbera a trading and transportation hub for the Horn of Africa.”...

Summary In 2019, transit cargo from Dar es Salaam to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi was at 37 percent, up from 22 percent in 2018. On average it costs $1.80 per kilometre per container to transport goods from the port of Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura compared with $3.10 per kilometre per container from the port of Mombasa. The turnaround of the Central Corridor has been attributed to the revival of the Central line metre gauge railway. This may have prompted Kenya Railways — after two decades of neglect — to rehabilitate the old meter-gauge railway from Nakuru to Kisumu at a cost of Ksh3.8 billion ($35 million). The Dar es Salaam port could attract lucrative business away from the Mombasa as the Central Corridor proves to be cheaper compared with the Northern Corridor transport route. On average it costs $1.80 per kilometre per container to transport goods from the port of Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura compared with $3.10 per kilometre per container from the port of Mombasa. The recently released the Central Corridor Transport Observatory 2019 report, which measures the performance of the Central Corridor, also shows that the average costs per km per container from Dar es Salaam to Kigali is $1.90 compared with $2.10 from the port of Mombasa. Importers from Uganda, also pay less at $1.80 per km per container to transport goods from the port of Dar es Salaam compared with $1.90 per km per container charged from Mombasa, while those from Goma pay $2.60...

Port, railway and pipeline operations will now be managed by under a single entity in a move aimed at turning Kenya into a commercial regional logistics hub. The development was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in an Executive Order on Friday establishing the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN) to oversee the flow of cargo from Mombasa port to the hinterlands and East Africa export markets. In effect, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) will now fall under the State-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC), which will be headed by newly appointed John Ngumi for a three-year term that ends on May 2022. “Going forward, the State agencies have 30 days to enter into a joint operations agreement where each entity will re-organise their structures, resources, operations and services towards establishment of a seamless and coordinated national transport and logistics network,” said President Kenyatta. The agencies have also been transferred to the National Treasury, which is expected to provide personnel to boost oversight in investment portfolio management while ensuring each is professionally run thereby enabling them meet their individual targets. The setting up of KTLN comes amid rising concerns over conflicting directives that cause operational delays as agencies operate independently. This has seen importers, manufacturers, among other port users protest over numerous levies paid to the separate entities where delays in evacuation of cargo cost them a tidy sum due to storage and demurrage costs. President Kenyatta said the new structure creates...

ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Vera Songwe, on Thursday emphasized the need to boost intra-Africa trade in order to augment Africa's share in the global trading platform. The ECA chief made the urgent call during a virtual meeting on African perspectives on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and prospects for regional trade cooperation on Thursday, as she emphasized the need to strengthen trade among African countries. "Africa's trade in the global community was 2 percent two decades ago. We are still at 2 percent despite having joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and having more countries that trade outside the continent more," Songwe told the virtual event. "Let's develop our productive capacity to transform our goods from raw commodities," the ECA Executive Secretary added. According to Songwe, when Africa trades with itself, it creates more value, and whenever it creates more value, it creates more wealth and reduces poverty. "The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement offers countries opportunities to develop regional value chains and increase competitiveness in the global markets," she said. Songwe also noted that African countries are "driving a solidified trade voice and a resoluteness to implement the AfCFTA." "This renewed and reinvigorated approach to trade is necessary for economic growth and job creation on the continent," she stressed. The AfCFTA offers a new hope and continental exhilaration in terms of boosting intra-African trade, facilitating Africa's development and industrialization. According to the ECA, once...