Transport, Communication and Trade in Africa
Senior 3 · Geography
Transport, Communication and Trade in Africa
Lesson 2 of 5
30 min
Rwanda reaches the sea along two main roads. The Northern Corridor runs through Uganda and Kenya to the port of Mombasa; the Central Corridor runs through Tanzania to the port of Dar es Salaam. Every bag of imported cement, every litre of fuel and every new bicycle in a Rwandan shop has travelled one of these routes, crossing at least one border on the way. When a lorry waits two days at a border, the price of the goods it carries goes up. That is why transport is not only about vehicles: it shapes what we pay, what we can sell and how fast a country grows.
Figure 1 is a simplified sketch: real roads bend far more, and Rwanda also trades through other routes, such as Bukavu and Goma in DR Congo and Bujumbura in Burundi.
Definition
Transport corridor: a main route, often crossing several countries, that links an inland area to a port, with its roads, railways, pipelines and border posts. Landlocked country: a country with no coastline, such as Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, South Sudan, Zambia or Mali. Transit goods: goods that pass through one country on their way to another.
| Problem | Explanation and example |
|---|---|
| Poor and few roads | Many rural roads are murram that turn to mud in the rains; potholes slow lorries and damage vehicles. |
| Few, old and unlinked railways | Colonial lines run from mines to ports, not between neighbours; many are worn out. |
| Different rail gauges | Lines built to different gauges (for example metre gauge in East Africa and Cape gauge in Southern Africa) cannot share trains. |
| Landlocked position | Countries such as Rwanda pay for long road journeys and depend on their neighbours' ports, roads and peace. |
| Delays at borders and weighbridges | Paperwork, inspections and checks in each country add days and costs. |
| Physical barriers | Steep relief, rift valleys, swamps, dense forest and deserts raise building costs; rapids and falls block rivers. |
| Shortage of capital and skills | Railways, ports and airports need huge loans and trained engineers. |
| Accidents and overloading | Poor driving, old vehicles and overloaded lorries kill people and destroy roads. |
| Insecurity and political instability | Wars and attacks close routes, as in parts of the Sahel and eastern DR Congo. |
| High fuel prices | Most African countries import fuel, so a rise in world oil prices raises all transport costs. |
| Port congestion | Ships may wait outside crowded ports, delaying goods for inland countries. |
Definition
One-stop border post (OSBP): a border crossing where the officers of both countries work side by side, so a traveller or lorry is checked once instead of twice. Single Customs Territory: an EAC system in which customs duty on imports is collected once, at the first port of entry, instead of at every border.
Worked example
Worked example 1: the cost of being landlocked. An importer in Kigali buys goods worth US$40,000. Moving them from the port to Kigali costs US$5,000. What percentage of the goods' value is the transport cost? (Illustrative figures.)
Percentage = 5,000 ÷ 40,000 × 100 = 12.5%. A trader at the coast, paying perhaps US$500 to move the same goods, pays only 1.25%. The inland shopper pays the difference, which is why landlocked countries push hard for cheaper corridors.
Worked example
Worked example 2: what a one-stop border post saves. A lorry once spent 8 hours on the exit side of a border and 10 hours on the entry side. After a one-stop border post opened, the whole crossing took 4 hours. How many hours were saved, and by what percentage? (Illustrative figures.)
Old time = 8 + 10 = 18 hours. Saving = 18 − 4 = 14 hours. Percentage saving = 14 ÷ 18 × 100 ≈ 77.8%. Fewer waiting hours mean lower wages, less fuel spent idling and fresher perishable goods.
Warning
Match each solution to a problem. "Build more roads" does not answer "delays at borders". An exam answer that pairs a problem with the solution that fixes it, and gives an example, earns more marks than two separate lists.
Geography Masterclass: ten problems facing transport and communication in Africa. As you watch, write one solution beside each problem.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
