Port Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Competitive Forces, Port Reform, and Investment Challenges

From as early as the seventeenth century, Southern Africa served as an important maritime space in the global network. The ports in this region have transformed from colonial halfway refreshment stations to viable container and bulk ports following various port investment initiatives. Today, however, due to greater social and economic stability, regional integration, and globalization, Southern African container ports in particular face increased pressure to provide sufficient port capacity. This growing misalignment between container demand and container port capacity impacts the quality of service experienced at the ports and leads to port congestion. Chang et al. (2008) cite an important attribute affecting service quality and port performance as port congestion. Port user costs rise sharply once the port traffic approaches the existing effective port capacity limits. To alleviate the problem of congestion, ports increase capacity by investing in port infrastructure such as canal enhancements, additional berths, or additional port handling equipment. Ceteris paribus, increasing port capacity should help to enhance service quality and reduce time costs for ships and cargoes and should therefore attract and accommodate more traffic to the port (Xiao et al., 2012).