Our global freight forwarding network keeps our customers freight moving across the world.

West African port congestion exposes gaps beyond terminal gates

Congestion along West Africa's coast is exposing infrastructure that appears dramatically ill-suited to the region's rapidly developing container market, with concerns that the level of investment, and its intended developments, are not where they need to be. Last year, Drewry recorded a 19.4% year-on-year upturn in regional container throughput, reflecting the introduction of larger vessels on Asia-West Africa services, and The Loadstar's reporting indicates developing trade between West Africa and Latin America. Eirik Hooper, Drewry's ports and terminals specialist, told The Loadstar: "The congestion appears to be the result of a mismatch between rapidly expanding vessel capacity, growing volumes and the ability of terminals and supporting logistics systems to process that cargo." He believes the source of this pressure is linked to introduction of 24,000 teu vessels on MSC's Africa Express service, which began last April, and by May was calling at Lomé, Tema, Abidjan, and Kribi, although he warned problems vary considerably across ports. According to Drewry, Doula operated last year at 102% utilisation, with volumes rising 48% year on year, while Conakry, Dakar, Lomé, and Pointe-Noire hovered between 81% and 84%. But pointing to Tema, Mr Hooper said simply seeing this as a terminal issue would not help. The Ghanaian gateway experienced congestion of between four and seven days during the summer peak and is still hovering around the six-day mark, despite the country's transport minister noting there had been significant improvements in terminal capacity this year. But Mr Hooper said this came "without corresponding improvements to its supporting transport infrastructure", adding: "The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority had already identified imports, empty containers and road congestion as principal contributors to delays. "Consequently, it would be misleading to characterise Tema's problems simply as a lack of terminal investment. The evidence instead points towards a mismatch between the scale of investment inside the terminal and investment outside it. "Landside bottlenecks often determine effective terminal capacity meaning slow container evacuation, truck shortages, customs delays and inadequate off-dock storage contribute to high yard occupancy, reducing waterside productivity." Similar examples can be found; investment at Abidjan in additional yard equipment in 2025, did little to prevent average vessel wait times jumping from 0.4 days in February to 2.2 days by end of August, while Douala exceeding its handling capacity means it needs more. "There are then two fundamentally different situations, modern terminals with insufficient hinterland connectivity versus terminals facing genuine operational constraints West African port congestion exposes gaps in infrastructure investment," Mr Hooper added. DP World chief executive and managing director for Africa, Mohammed Akoojee, seems to see a relatively obvious solution: combining terminal expansion with investment across the wider African supply chain. Mr Akoojee told The Loadstar: "Addressing these challenges requires more than expanding terminals. Investment in modern equipment, deeper berths, roads, rail and inland logistics networks must go hand in hand to ensure cargo moves efficiently through the supply chain." For its part, DP World has invested $340m in modernising its Dakar terminal, increasing throughput from 265,000 teu in 2008 to 850,000 teu in 2025, with the operator noting that this has seen vessel wait times plummet from 35 hours to near zero. However, he said that "even highly productive terminals" eventually encountered physical constraints, with this particularly true in cases where opportunities for further expansion are limited. "Our $1.2bn investment in the new deepwater port of Ndayane builds on this progress, providing capacity for larger vessels and future trade growth. Ndayane will have an initial annual container-handling capacity of 1.2m teu in the first phase," Mr Akoojee said. This project forms part of a wider wave of port development across the region, including new terminals at Pointe-Noire, Banana, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and projects in Nigeria, alongside expansions at San Pedro in Ivory Coast, Takoradi in Ghana, and Luanda. "With African trade expected to grow and shipping evolving, continued integrated investment in port and logistics infrastructure are essential; needs vary by market, but our focus remains developing capacity, improving efficiency and strengthening inland connectivity," he added.

Low Rhine water level driving barge cargo to capacity-strained road and rail

Terminals at Antwerp and Rotterdam are coming under growing pressure as unseasonably low water along the Rhine continues to restrict container barge movements on the river, with cargo being pushed towards already-constrained rail and road networks. SeasC4U's Gunther Ginckels told The Loadstar barges around Duisburg-Ruhrort were operating at roughly two-thirds of normal capacity, while vessels further upstream were carrying substantially smaller loads. "Some services are suspended further upstream on the Kaub gauge, where low water has severely restricted navigation, while large volumes are being shifted to rail and truck, but alternative capacity is limited," said Mr Ginckels. "Cargo is still moving, but carrying capacity is sharply reduced, transport costs have risen, transit times are longer and less predictable, while inland terminals, rail networks, and trucking markets are absorbing displaced cargo at higher cost and delays." Some 35% of box movements along the Dutch hinterland tend to travel by inland waterway, meaning that even seeing a part of that traffic transferred to alternative modes piles massive pressure onto already constrained transport networks. Back in August, Metro Global stated that more than 200 trucks would be required to replace lost barge capacity, and while low water levels have become part and parcel of the Rhine's summer months in recent years, the persisting into October presented additional problems. One source told The Loadstar: "The low waters and the additional congestion this places on rail and road infrastructure in the summer is a strain, but the with schools out and people on holiday, it is manageable. The same cannot be said for October." The rail operators are reportedly experiencing the biggest difficulties, with sharp increases in demand in the Rhine-Main leaving at least one intermodal operator's train services fully booked for what Mr Ginckels said was "weeks". He warned that rail infrastructure was not sufficient to readily absorb all the displaced cargo, citing shortages of suitable train paths, wagons, locomotives, and drivers, and while noting that road transport offered greater flexibility, he said capacity there was also tight. "In some affected areas, road transport is becoming the only practical alternative, because rail is already full, and even with trucks being used extensively, there is reportedly insufficient capacity for 15% to 30% of affected cargo volumes," Mr Ginckels continued. "Finding replacement truck capacity can take up to two weeks, while securing rail capacity may require up to six weeks' advance notice. Even after water levels recover, logistics experts estimate it may take up to 10 days for vessel schedules to normalise." For terminal operators, a shift back to barges could provoke a new bout of congestion, as the arrival of delayed vessels in close succession could then create further blockages at both Rotterdam and Antwerp. A spokesperson for the port of Rotterdam told The Loadstar it was not currently seeing any disruption to its services and that the port remained fully operational with the flow of goods continuing as normal. "The effects are mainly visible further inland, where low water levels have a greater direct impact on the navigability of rivers and canals. That said, we see that the total volume of inland waterway transport remains reasonably stable compared with last year." Although sources said terminals had implemented a "one teu in, one teu out" policy for the barges and trains making their way to the terminals with containers, demanding they take away an equivalent number to those discharged. This condition of discharge is reportedly applicable for full and empty containers, but sources say the restriction is only complicating container flows and adding to barge waiting times - although neither Antwerp nor Rotterdam had yet to confirm the rule to The Loadstar. Mr Ginckels said the situation was now "one of the most serious Rhine navigation disruptions since the historic low-water events of 2018''. "The strongest effects are those being felt down in southern Germany, Switzerland, and the Upper Rhine corridor."

My Freighter is approved for UK operations

Uzbekistan-based cargo airline My Freighter has been approved to operate in the UK as it continues with plans to expand its network globally. Tashkent-hubbed My Freighter, said it had been been designated as an ACC3 carrier by the UK Government in a LinkedIn post today. "MY FREIGHTER, the largest air cargo carrier in Central Asia and part of CENTRUM HOLDING, is pleased to announce the it has been designated as an ACC3 carrier by the UK Department for Transport," said the airline. "ACC3 confirms that our cargo security procedures meet UK aviation security standards. Now that we can officially operate in the United Kingdom, we see this as a huge milestone in our journey in connecting East and West. "This security designation allows us to provide our partners an opportunity to secure, compliant cargo from Tashkent to the UK. A new direct link for shippers and forwarders in Uzbekistan and the wider region is another step in growing our networking." Network expansion activities for My Freighter this year have included the addition of flights from Hong Kong to Maastricht Aachen in the Netherlands via its main hub at Tashkent International; flights between Asia and Frankfurt;and an increase in frequencies from Liege Airport. Earlier this month, My Freighter added a Boeing 767 freighter to bring more flexibility to its operations and allow for more options for imports and imports and exports through its Tashkent hub, as well as stronger connections between Asia and Europe. The airline's fleet now includes 10 767Fs, most of which are conversions, and one Boeing 757-200F, which was added in March last year.