The East African Business Council (EABC) intends to undertake an assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transport and logistics in the East African Community (EAC) that will spell post recovery recommendations for the sector.
The regional business lobby said this when it invited bids to carry out a detailed study in the coming weeks, saying that this arose out of concern that the global transport and logistics disruptions have increased the cost of transport, tremendously affecting the cost of doing business. The study is being supported by TradeMark East Africa.
National, regional and global players have put in place a number of measures as guided by health experts to contain the spread of coronavirus, which have significantly affected the movement of the cargo and people across the borders.
The high cost of transport due to delays at various points along the transport corridors have seen regional economies cut down on imports and scale down their operations.
Recently released statistics by the Shippers Council of East Africa (SCEA) showed that the cost of transporting cargo from Mombasa to Kampala has gone up by an average of USD1000, USD 1400 for Kigali, USD 2000 for Bujumbura and 2400 for Juba.
While it took an average of 2-4 days for a return journey to Kampala in last year, the Covid 19 period has seen this rise to 7-9 days. In Kigali, it is taking 14-16 days up from 7-8 days in 2019.
Transporters took 9-10 days to reach South Sudan but now they need 21-26 days for the journey, SCEA said. From Mombasa to Bujumbura, from an average of 9-10 days in 2019, transporters require 19-20 days.
Aviation industry has been hurt hardest. The global aviation industry worldwide is sagging under the weight of the current coronavirus pandemic.
“With strong links to China, both for tourism and trade, African airlines are somewhat more exposed to the current disruption than anywhere else,” EABC said.
According to IATA, Africa has lost approximately 0.4% of its Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK), with the effect being felt within the most affected nations.
By the end of February, 2020, it was approximated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that African Airlines would register a loss of approximately $29bn with potential revenue losses of about $113bn worldwide due to COVID-19.
Overall, intercontinental flights are still the bread and butter of Africa’s aviation industry, making up 51% of their business. On average, the revenue of airlines in Africa derives 5% from Chinese flights and another 7% from flights to the Asia-Pacific region.
“As such, airlines are highly exposed to both the cancellation of these routes and the drop in demand. In East Africa, Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Air Tanzania and Uganda Airlines have also placed a temporary halt on passenger flights,” EABC said.
The study comes at a time when the industry players are putting in place various measures to adopt new normal in logistics as the regional government progressively ease restrictions they spelt out in March this year after the EAC recorded its first cases of Covid 19.
The Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA), the umbrella body of the clearing agents in the East Africa’s countries of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya has developed a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).
These standards, in an initiative also supported by TMEA, will help to reduce spread of Covid 19 among the logistics service providers in the East Africa region as the economy opens further.
These measures, with some having already been rolled out target the cargo road trucking- drivers, crew and transporters; warehousing, Container Freight Station (CFSs) and Inland Container Depots (ICD). The other set of measures targets customs clearance and freight forwarders sector. The SOPs were developed by a consultant and a team of industry experts.
The EACB study will also come at a time when the region has made some remarkable progress in normalizing conducts of its citizens. Kenya plans to resume international air travel into and out of the territory of the Republic of Kenya by 1st August 2020.
Rwanda has recorded significant gains than its neighbours. Last week, the European Union Council recommended the lifting of the travel restriction alongside 14 other countries. Germany’s Robert Koch Institute also announced that Rwanda has graduated to a Covid 19 free risk area.
Uganda has planned community sensitization for the public to observe the World Health Organization’s (WHO) protocols of keeping social distance, use of face masks and regularly sanitizing hands or washing them with soap.
Burundi’s new President Evariste Ndayishimiye has already declared coronavirus the country’s “biggest enemy”, in a major about-turn for a nation which had largely ignored the dangers of the virus. The country has planned to carry out mass testing in the coming days.
About a month ago, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli declared the country “coronavirus-free” attributing this to prayers by citizens.
Presenting the Secretary-General’s latest report on the situation in South Sudan, David Shearer, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in the country said that the novel coronavirus outbreak is going to hit the country hard, “but not necessarily in the way that we think”.
The real threat lies in the collapse of an already fragile health system, leading to a devastating increase in deaths — “likely greater than the loss of life from COVID itself” — due to disruptions to vaccinations, maternal health services and routine treatment for diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia.
Guided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and supported by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Transitional Government of National Unity is trying to raise awareness nationwide, but observance is patchy, Shearer observed.
“Few will submit to isolation at home,” he explained. “The need to earn a living means that people’s behaviour remains unchanged, as not working today means not eating tomorrow.”