Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Mister Wong
Bookmarks.cc
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Netscape
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Diggita
Hear this text
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
“Business as usual”: one of those ready-made catchphrases that people throw around without looking into what they mean.Now that the worst of the ‘credit crunch’ is over (or so we fervently hope) and the world economy tentatively glances up from the brink of the abyss (except in Dubai, which has been saved from free fall by an agent from Abu Dhabi on a paraglider) everyone is hoping that ‘the dust will settle’ and we can all go back to ‘business as usual’.
But how usual has business ever been? One of the many interesting facts raised during the course of the Nepad Transport Summit and Africa Expo 2009, held at Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg in November last year, was how unusual the practice of doing business in transport and logistics in Africa actually is.
One story that made a deep impression on me was told by Sam Oved, commercial manager: Logistics and General Spend at SABMiller Africa & Asia, during a parallel session on ports and harbours. Delays at the port of Luanda, he related, are so abysmal that it is common for goods to be landed at the port of Durban and shipped overland to Angola instead.
I looked around in amazement: instead of the cracking sound of jaws hitting the floor, I saw looks of bemusement and resignation. This was an accepted fact; this was ‘business as usual’. Yet, Africa has by far the highest logistics costs in the world –
a major limiting factor on economic development.
Another point raised during the summit was that African countries look to each other for inspiration. This was brought home by the unstated but obvious impact that has been created by the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI), in the framework of providing a role model for other countries to follow.
For example, the MCLI was cited in the parallel session on Spatial Development Corridors as the success story that has given the green light for other corridor initiatives to be pursued with vigour – in that particular case, the Northern Corridor, to link Kenya, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan. The African Development Bank has already approved funding.
In South Africa, as this issue of Road Ahead goes to print, the Road Freight Association is asking its members to comment on proposed changes by the South African Revenue Service to customs legislation designed to streamline and speed up cross-border movement. It is clear that the core message of the Nepad Transport Summit – that smooth transport operations are crucial to African development – is reaching all quarters. Visit the RFA website for more information (www.rfa.co.za).
If the intentions expressed at the Nepad Summit continue to be converted into outcomes, we will all have a different concept of ‘business as usual’.
Greg Penfold
