1149 | 358 | From liner shipping connectivity to global terminal operator strategies: New port competition on the Western and Central port range of Africa | Dr. Brigitte DAUDET & Dr. Yann ALIX
With more than 600 million inhabitants, the West and Central African areas are growing markets for global shipping lines (GSL) and global terminal operators (GTO). However, in 2022, the total container traffic of the Dakar-Luanda port range represent less than 1% of the world traffic. It corresponds more or less at the same global market share observed on the early 2000’ which means that despite more than 50 billion of public and private investments since 2 decades, western and central Africa ports are still pawns into the global shipping connectivity networks. _x000D_
Nevertheless, over the past years, these niche markets attract the largest GSL as well as the most aggressive GTO with the distinctive feature that it is the Europeans container handling companies who dominate and not the top Chinese ones. _x000D_
This paper aims to put into perspective the role and impact of majors Europeans GSL and GTO strategies on the evolution of competition between port authorities. The first part demonstrates the concentration of players in an oligopolistic pattern rather the second part highlights the new competitive landscape in ports, with the emergence of new regional hubs such as the ports of Pointe-Noire and especially the Lome Container Terminal. Finally, the paper discusses on the strategies that port authorities can activate at the regional level in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) and the associated new traffic opportunities for sub-regional maritime and port services. _x000D_
Dr. Brigitte DAUDET & Dr. Yann ALIX
NIMEC LAB EM Normandy Business School & SEFACIL FOUNDATION
ID Abstract: 358