PROJECT CARGONORTH AFRICA
North Africa continues to struggle in the face of a social revolution.
economic growth slowed to 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2016 with unemployment of 9 percent overall. Morocco has also made some major infrastructure investments, including the Tanger-Med port – one of the largest on the Mediterranean and in Africa. Another new port is under construction
Markets wrestle with ongoing social revolution
Chris Lewis reports on trends and developments affecting the heavy lift and project forwarding sector across North Africa, where countries are still coming to terms with the Arab Spring.
N
orth Africa remains embroiled in the social revolution that followed the Arab Spring and led to the removal of established rulers in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia.
Egypt is suffering from inflation, a
foreign exchange deficit, plus food and fuel shortfalls. It is pushing on with at least one major energy project – the BP developed Atoll gasfield in the East Nile Delta, which is due to start delivering gas in early 2018. Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef
Chahed’s government recently approved an investment law aimed at encouraging foreign investment by cutting red tape and taxes, while easing restrictions on transferring funds out of the country, in a bid to arrest the country’s economic slump.
Civil conflict Libya, whose economy the World Bank recently described as being in “near collapse”, is locked in civil conflict. Rebuilding the country could provide the project freight industry with some of its best prospects for business in the region, but the social and political conditions need to be right before that can happen. One of the first tasks will be reconstructing oil facilities and terminals, said the World Bank. Algeria has been looking nervously at
events over its eastern border. The World Bank says that while the government has maintained political stability, its economy has steadily worsened since mid-2014 because of the collapse in global oil prices. Unemployment has surged but the government is trying to bolster the economy
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Morocco has many assets that make it a highly attractive place for foreign investment. – Houssem Chraiet, We Logistics
by developing hydrocarbon resources and has also launched some major transport and housing projects. Houssem Chraiet, branch manager of
Casablanca based forwarder We Logistics – a subsidiary of Tandem Logistics – said Morocco “has many assets that make it a highly attractive place for foreign investment: a strategic geographic location with easy access to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; trade agreements with the USA, the European Union, and Middle Eastern and African countries; social and political stability; a skilled labour pool; and rising gross domestic product (GDP).” The World Bank says Morocco’s
at Safi, on the Atlantic coast, which will comprise a coal terminal and a phosphate hub. The USD470 million first phase of the project is scheduled for completion in August 2017. The old port will be converted to a
commercial and cruise port. In the second phase of the project, the phosphate activities will be transferred to a USD3.5 billion facility at the new port, which will host the activities of industrial chemical producer OCP. Mohamed Cherif, marketing and
technical sales manager at Tunisia based Sohatram, said the company saw a noticeable increase in turnover in 2016 with one emerging segment being “exceptional convoys”. He added: “Despite the civil war in Libya, Sohatram did some transportation projects in this country... the situation is not as bad as shown in the mainstream media.”
Infrastructure projects Ports are pressing ahead with infrastructure projects. At Zarzis, Tunisia, some USD50 million is being spent to renew infrastructure and create an industrial zone dedicated to logistics services. Similar projects are taking place at the ports of Gabes, Sfax, La Goulette and Bizerte. Other projects on the table include the
Tunis City scheme, a new highway between Sfax and Gabes, and a rail link between Gabes and Zarzis. Cherif added: “Despite the low price of oil, many oil and gas companies are starting new projects like OMV Aktiengesellschaft and Pergemine”, with contracts ready to be signed. One project under consideration is the
4,000 km Trans-African Pipeline that would stretch along the coast from Nigeria to Morocco, and eventually into Europe. It would extend the current gas pipeline operated by Nigeria’s West African Gas Pipeline Company from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana. While a similar project previously
discussed in 2002 was abandoned after financing fell through, both parties have stated their commitment to the current project, which would boost economic integration as well as speed up gas-fuelled electrification projects in the whole region and create a long-sought-after competitive regional market.
January/February 2017
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