AFRICA\\\
Agility is planning to bring African logistics into the modern era with a string of distribution parks across the continent. The first phase of the first ADP (Agility Distribution Park) is already under construction at Tema. Ghana chief executive for Agility Africa, Geoffrey White explains: “Our existing customers asked us if we could do in Africa what we already do for them in other parts of the world, so we are setting up a network of international-standard logistics facilities.” They will, he says, be “a First
World enclave in Africa,” with dependable power supplies, IT, a high level of security and a proper warehouse management system. While not quite the first
logistics park in Africa – the Intels site at Onne in Nigeria provides a specialist facility mainly for the oil and gas industry – this will be aimed at the general market, particularly fast moving consumer goods importers, as well as local Ghanaian exporters, says Goeffrey White. “It will solve a huge number of concerns for companies,” he predicts. While African markets and stock
shops a bewildering
variety of local and imported goods – and there are even a few Western-owned supermarkets – the way goods currently get there is very inefficient, White argues. Customs clearance causes major delays, goods are not always handled properly or stored at the correct temperature and pilferage is a problem. The fact that the ADP will be inside a freezone should greatly smooth out customs issues, White believes. Construction
of the first
10,000sq m phase at Tema has started and it is expected to go into operation in the first quarter of 2016. Ghana was chosen as the test
bed for the concept because, says White, “it is one of the politically most stable countries and it has good economic fundamentals – it’s a good place for a launch.” The ADP facility would serve
both the local market and neighbouring nations such as Burkino Faso. The facility is in the Tema
Free Trade Zone just to the north of the port and will eventually cover 160,000sq m; the plan is to make future units available on a build to suit basis.
Ghana has a reputation
of being a business-friendly country, especially by West African
standards, and the
process of setting up the ADP was transparent and was completed inside 3-4 months, says White. Agility hopes to repeat the
ADP concept throughout Africa, in Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria, Cote
d’Ivoire, Tanzania and
Kenya - not necessarily in that order, though Mozambique will probably be next. Agility has set itself a five year window. Clearly, Agility’s ADPs are only
one part of a very incomplete logistics jigsaw in Africa, but White is encouraged by DP World and other private sector firms’ commitment to develop the region’s ports. If a few large ports can be got working successfully, a network of feeder services can be established and the ADPs would fit in perfectly with this. The improved logistics
infrastructure wouldn’t just benefit imports, White adds. One of the biggest frustrations that African exporters face is getting oſten perishable products to market and the biggest constraint here is not the thousands of miles of ocean but the lack of port and transport infrastructure in Africa. Ghana has major export crops
in cocoa and fresh fruit and while it has one of the better local road systems in
the region, much
more could be done. Agility is very keen to involve local Ghana hauliers, especially as it is a way of increasing local content in its processes, which most African governments are very keen on. It also has extensive training programmes and sends Ghanaian trainees around the world to give them an insight into logistics best practice.
Projects
While the consumer markets will grow in importance, Agility’s business in Africa – like that of many other global forwarders – was initially founded on project logistics for major construction schemes, especially in the oil and gas sector. While new projects are on
the back burner, following the collapse in global oil prices, there are still some exciting prospects, particularly in Mozambique. US-based Anadarko Petroleum recently named CB&I
in the US and its joint venture partners Japan-based Chiyoda and Italy’s Saipem for the North Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas project. This $15 billion behemoth of a scheme has the potential to make Mozambique the world’s third-largest LNG producer and could generate a massive amount of freight – particularly as the estimated several million tonnes would
Issue 7 2015 - Freight Business Journal
Forwarder to perform logistics technological leapfrog
probably be moved from Mozambique’s main port, Maputo, which is in the south of the country. If the formidable logistics problems involved in building the scheme – it is in one of the most remote parts of the country, a few hundred kilometres from the nearest usable port of any size – it would give Mozambique access to some of the cheapest natural gas
anywhere on the planet. The problems involved
in getting this scheme off the ground encapsulate the problems of Africa as a whole. There is huge potential, but there is also a massive ‘infrastructure gap’ estimated by experts at $1,100 billion across the continent – essentially, the money that would need to be spent to get the region up
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to something comparable to developed world standards. “But I think the potential is
there,” concludes White. “Not only does the World Bank predict that there will be 2 billion people in Africa by 2050, but 50% of them will live in cities. And that means that they won’t be subsistence farmers – they will be playing a full part in the economy.”
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