Oceans and other water bodies cover almost three-quarters of the Earthās surface. Given the vast distances that separate continents, it is understandable that more than eighty per cent of world trade is seaborne. This underscores the importance of the maritime sector, especially seaports and shipping, and the attendant scholarly and general interest in it. This is exemplified by Africa, a huge continent that is almost entirely enclosed by extensive coastlines, especially on its western and eastern margins. The maritime sector is strategic to the economic development of virtually all African countries. The global expansion of seaborne trade and the move towards economic integration on the continent in recent decades have underscored the importance of shipping and seaport development as major assets in national planning and economic policymaking. Massive investments in port infrastructures in the last decade have been at the core of maritime development policies in Africa. Hence, between 2007 and 2017, not less than fifty billion dollars were invested in port infrastructures across the continent (Ndungidi 2017). In addition, the economic and social opportunities in the Blue Economy and related sectors attracted the interest of private and public stakeholders in Africa (Hassan 2016). Nevertheless, there is nothing new in this fresh emphasis on the development of seaborne trade as a plank of the socio-economic development of the continent. The nexus between external/maritime trade and domestic economic performance is a recurring issue for most African countries since the late nineteenth century. However, Africaās different maritime faƧades have experienced divergent evolutionary patterns in accordance with changing hinterland and foreland dynamics. Thus, the long-term effects of maritime networks configuration (reinforcement, concentration and dispersion) seem to exert some influence on port evolution and the way the shipping and maritime sector evolved on the African continent (Kosowska-Stamirowska et al. 2016).
However, other self-reinforcement effects on port evolution and the long-term configuration of regional hierarchies are discernible in the portsā hinterlands. This structural approach was adopted by earlier scholars exploring how port and seaborne indicators were related to economic performance. This book follows the path of the pioneer collection edited by Brian Hoyle and David Hilling a half century ago (Hoyle and Hilling 1970). By applying multiple methodological approaches, contributors to that landmark book set the academic benchmarks for a comprehensive evaluation of the complex relationship between seaports and development. They established a causal relationship between regional economic development and the operational capacity of seaportsātheir handling of commodities which directly impacted on GDP performance. Hence, they stated that seaborne trade would be an appropriate proxy for gauging the relative state of the overall economy. Though this quantitative approach did not capture wealth distribution and the levels of economic inequality in African societies, it aimed to demonstrate how the development of seaborne trade positively affected the macroeconomic structure. This optimistic approach was fuelled by the extraordinary growth of the African economies from the end of the World War II up to release date of that book. The same goes for the theoretical model proposed by Taaffe et al. (1963). Building on economic orthodoxy, it held that the evolution of transport systems under market and liberal regulations would promote economic expansion and mitigate mass poverty. Hence, accumulation of capital and its reinvestment in local and regional infrastructures would promote regional integration, facilitate commercial exchanges and the consolidation of market economies. This approach coincided with the developmental theories fostered during the post-war golden age.
The 1970s economic crises disrupted this self-predicted progressive path. The crises exposed the fragility of the economic structure of dependent countries where incomes and wealth (both public and private sectors) were heavily dependent on the evolution of external sectors (Jerven 2015). The catastrophic combination of the precipitous fall in the world market prices of raw materials and commodities (the economic mainstay of most African countries), the inflation caused by the increasing prices of energy and the crisis of the state structures (tax revenue crisis) heavily affected port development and the way the African continent was inserted into the second wave of globalization from the late 1980s. Some contemporary authors like Samir Amin (1971) have highlighted the structural weakness of West African economies which continued to rest upon foundations established during the colonial period. The Marxist approach by Amin was a kind of wakeup call for other African countries which had had similar historical experiences. The Cold War context also explains and fed the intellectual controversy. Nevertheless, both approaches observed how the historical pattern of transport evolution was conditioned by the colonial policies of the European powers. The consolidation of the colonial state required appropriate transport infrastructure both at the coast and in the inland regions (Young 1994). The arbitrary partition of Africa and the establishment of a historical artificial borders by the imperial powers influenced transport policy as well as budgetary allocations to the sector. The relative lack of inland transport development (with the notable exceptions of South Africa, and, to a lesser extent, Algeria) capable of integrating the colonial territories reinforced the extraverted structure of regional economies (Oliete and MagrinyĆ 2018; Debrie 2010). In general, the main inland transport corridorsārailways and roadāarticulated productive agricultural and mining regions to the major seaports. The core transport structure was almost completed during the inter-war period as economic extraction was intensified.
The second wave of globalization unleashed a general cargo revolution and world-integrated container markets, which deeply modified the entire African port systems. The demographic push and the sustained growth of African economies fostered port development and global investments in the sector. Overall port throughput experienced an impressive growth, with containerization playing an important role. This technological revolution also required important investments in port infrastructures, human capital, technical equipment as well as institutional reforms. The publicāprivate partnership strategies also fostered these structural transformations. Major national seaports, as privileged carriers of seaborne trade, exemplify this institutional reform by which the landlord port management model rapidly spread throughout the continent. Nevertheless, in spite of some relevant changes and the recent emergence of massive regional nodes (i.e. Tangiers-Med), the African port-system structure reveals an important degree of stability in terms of hierarchy. Long-term evolutionary patterns are essential to observe how the current port network works. We have summarized the major driving factors of port evolution in Africa in Table 1.1. All variables and issues provided there are explored in each chapter of this book. This edited collection seeks to provide a comprehensive explanation of seaport evolution on the African continent from multiple disciplinary approaches. First, we pay intellectual tribute to pioneers, Babafemi Ogundana, B. W. Hodder, Brian Hoyle, David Hilling, William Hance, Irene Van Dongen, and Richard J. Peterec, among other scholars, who explored port geography and economics from the late 1950s. They inaugurated economic geography analysis of seaports in Africa. Thus, this book aims to continue this scholarly tradition introducing recent methodological approaches from geography, economics and history.
Table 1.1
Historical driving factors of port evolution in Africa, 1880ā2010s
Period | World Shipping Industry | African Port Development | Inland Transport Infrastructures | Overall economic factors | Major institutional factors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1880ā1913 | Transition from sail to steam. British merchant fleet hegemony. Increased tonnages. Maritime industry changes | Construction of modern port infrastructures (1880s). Prevalence of coastal trade. Scattered port system | Construction of railways. Poor road systems. Limited inland waterways | Expansion of cash-crop productions and mining sectors. Growth of external-related sectors (trade). Extractive economies | Scramble of Africa. Colonial occupation and borders configuration. Settlement of the colonial state |
1914ā1945 | Oil tankers. Introduction of liquid fuels. Increased drafts | Enlargement of port infrastructures (1920s). Port concentration dynamics. Improved facilities (export of cash-crops and ores) | Railway growth (intermodal connectivity). Beginning of road transport concurrence (late 1930s) | Colonial commodities price crisis. Urban growth and regional metropolization. Stagnation of GDPpc | Establishment of Protectorates in former German colonies. Development of the colonial institutional regime |
1946ā1960 | Post-war shipping boom. Increased tonnages and drafts. Scale economies and Super-Tankers (late 1950s). Beginnings of containerization | Port creation (specialized terminals). Expansion of seaborne trade. Congestion of port infrastructures | Relative decline of railways. Increased importance of road transports. Limited expansion of paved roads | Post-war inflation. Demographic and economic growth heavily dependent on seaborne trade. Metropolitan investments (i.e. FIDES plan) | Socio-economic instability and decline of the colonial states. United Nations agreements and political independences. Transfer of transport-economic infrastructures |
1961ā1972 | First global wave of containerization. Expansion of bulk trade (crude oil and oil products). Free registry policies | Improvement on port terminals. Increased port specialization | Crisis of railway systems. Limited inland integration. Road system extension. White elephant policies | Massive public investments and nationalization of productive sectors. Increased international concurrence on raw materials. Economic growth | New pro-socialist oriented States. Nationalism and regional rivalries. Political instability and fiscal unbalances. Cold War |
1973ā1995 | Containerization transition and specific container vessels. Diminution of the world fleet (units). Mechaniz... |