The role of ports in Africa’s growth

The role of ports in Africa’s growth

The efficiency of Africa’s ports is critical for the continent’s future growth.

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and Endorphin Expeditions and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.

As the world looks at securing new supply chains and sourcing commodities from new trade partners, the role of ports is becoming increasingly important.

The efficiency of Africa’s ports is critical in the export of the continent’s agricultural products and especially of its abundant minerals.

Bottlenecks and delays at major ports drive up costs and makes African countries less competitive in the global market.

WhyAfrica visits the Port of Beira

Last year, as part of the 2024 annual WhyAfrica Road Trip through Africa, we visited the Port of Beira in Mozambique to get a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes at a top African port.

The Port of Beira privatised some of its functions and has invested a lot of money into new technology and automation to improve efficiencies.

Beira exports commodities like coal, lithium and agricultural products from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. It has positioned itself as an important regional hub for exports from landlocked countries.

WhyAfrica gets our boots on the ground

Getting our boots on the ground and visiting operations like ports and other projects in the mining, quarrying, farming, infrastructure and energy sectors (amongst others) and interviewing the decision makers, role players and stakeholders are extremely important to us.

This is exactly what we do on our 45 day long overland Road Trips through 4 or more African countries.

Although we do have a lot of fun and adventures along the way, it’s hard work to drive close to 9000km in 45 days and to make it on time for another site visit and interview almost every day.

However, visiting these projects and operations are extremely valuable to gain more knowledge about how these complex systems function and to gain an understanding about operating in the countries that we visit.

Being physically present in the operational environment gives us real time insights into possible opportunities and operational challenges.

Most of all, it gives us an ideal opportunity to interview the operational people on the ground and to engage with all stakeholders.

Become part of the 2025 WhyAfrica Road Trip story  

This year we plan to visit several important African ports during our 2025 WhyAfrica Road Trip. If your company is involved in port operations, please give WhyAfrica a call, we’ll make you a part of the 2025 WhyAfrica Road Trip story.

Remember, if you sign up to become a WhyAfrica member you’ll be able to follow the overland road trip live and get daily updates on the WhyAfrica Road Trip channel.

To become a WhyAfrica member, visit the WhyAfrica website, your one-stop-shop for on the ground information and business intelligence about Africa.

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The role of ports in Africa’s growth