ANGOLAN PORT INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE COMPETITIVENESS IN THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

Abstract

Africa has nine transit corridors, two intra-regional corridors and two main east-west corridors. Africa accounts for about 13% of the world´s population and includes 54 countries, of which 38 have coastline access along the continent´s 30,490 Km of coastline and 16 are landlocked. However, 90% of the volume of cargo between Africa and the world is transported by sea, which typifies the importance of port infrastructure in economic development. This research presents a comparative analysis of the port infrastructures in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) based on the weight capacity that the ports support, waiting time for ships in ports, the connection of infrastructure networks, the growth of GDP per capita and the entry of ships in the country during the year by type of cargo. Similarly, determinant factors of port infrastructure management were identified. The objective is to characterize the competitive position of Angolan’s port infrastructure in the SADC context. The results show that Angola’s port infrastructure is not the worst in SADC. However, the lack of good roads and railroads reduce its competitiveness in relation to Namibian and South African port infrastructure. JEL: R40; R41 Article visualizations: