Comprehensive study on transport costs out

In March of this year, ECOWAS, UEMOA, USAID, the World Bank, governments across the region and private companies launched Borderless, a partnership to remove trade barriers in West Africa.

The West Africa Trade Hub Transport Director, Niels Rasmussen, notes that it costs about US$4,800 and takes anywhere from 13 to 22 days to bring a container from Tema to Ouagadougou and to move one on the same distance in the United States, for instance, from Newark to Chicago costs about US$650 and takes just five days.

Mr. Rasmussen says it is even more remarkable is when you realise that labour costs in the U.S. are 25 times higher. “Lowering West Africa’s transport costs - among the highest in the world, is critical.”

The Director of the Trade Hub, Vanessa Adams, notes with concern that high transport costs ultimately mean consumers pay more for goods at market - and in West Africa where people spend as much as 80% of their incomes on food alone, this is very important.

Additionally, she said high transport costs also make it very hard for exporting companies to compete in world markets. “When they cannot compete, they do not create the jobs that West Africans need.”

To lower the costs, private and public stakeholders must work together to create a single regional market, eliminate excessive documentation for importing and exporting, streamline procedures to reduce delays, and deregulate trucking.

To this end, the USAID’s West Africa Trade Hub will today release a comprehensive study that analyses the structure of transport costs and related inefficiencies on the Tema-Ouagadougou corridor. Reducing the high cost of transport would significantly increase business activity across West Africa, creating jobs and lifting incomes.

Source: B&FT