Africa-China trade slowed by container shortage as Covid-19 hits shipping

Name: China’s economy expands record 18.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021
Uploaded: 2021-08-15T04:00:16.000Z
Duration: 2 min 1 s
Description: China’s economy expands record 18.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021

As economies reopen, demand from China-Europe and trans-Pacific trade routes drives up shipping costs, making them more lucrative

Routes to Africa have been affected by the resulting delays and further rising costs

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Global demand for shipping containers has left some African countries facing delays in receiving goods from China. Photo: Xinhua

Jevans Nyabiage

Published: 12:00pm, 15 Aug 2021Updated: 12:03pm, 15 Aug 2021

China is Africa’s largest trading partner, exporting products such as garments, electronics and construction equipment to many countries on the continent, but traders are facing cargo delays and steep import costs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Observers blame this on an acute shortage of shipping containers, with more vessels prioritising China-Europe and trans-Pacific trade routes before serving other markets including Africa. Importers from East Africa say their orders are subject to delays of weeks or months.

Gilbert Langat, chief executive officer of the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa, which advocates for cargo owners, said countries in Sub-Saharan Africa had been the most affected.

According to Langat, cargo to Africa was left short of containers by the disruption of the pandemic, then exploding demand from Asia-Europe and trans-Pacific trade routes as economies reopened, and the backlog caused by this year’s Suez Canal blockage.

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China’s economy expands record 18.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021

“With the reduced availability of containers because of the balance of trade favouring Europe, the Americas and the Arab subcontinent, our freight rates have tripled because of high demand,” he said.