Morocco and the initiative for a new maritime route for the Sahel countries
The Moroccan project to open a new sea route for the countries of the Sahel was announced in November 2023 by King Mohammed VI during a speech to the nation.
The monarch presented the international initiative promoted by Morocco, which has become known as the Atlantic Initiative, and whose objective is to grant the Sahel countries access to the Atlantic Ocean and, in this way, integrate them into international trade networks and routes.
Morocco's initiative complies with international law, observing the provisions of the 1921 Barcelona Convention on Freedom of Transit and the United Nations Convention on Transit Trade of Landlocked States, adopted by the United Nations in February 1965.
The ministerial coordination meeting organised by Morocco on 22 and 23 December 2023 in Marrakech was attended by Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania, which are in the process of joining the initiative. They all agreed to set up working groups to promote the implementation of the project.
Behind all this is the fact that there are numerous African ports that have not been able to benefit from the increase in maritime traffic around the continent via the Cape of Good Hope, via Cape Town (South Africa). The insecurity in the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb in East Africa, which separates the Gulf of Aden from the Red Sea, due to attacks on ships by Houthi rebels from Yemen, has forced shipping companies to avoid the shortcut through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean and to sail around the entire African coast to reach Europe.
The diversion of fleets away from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal has not had a significant impact on the activities and volumes of African ports, including those of Lomé (Togo), Pointe-Noire (Congo), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Durban (South Africa) and Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania).
Trade in African countries
A recent article on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) highlights the role of logistics in reducing trade costs and facilitating intra-regional trade and economic integration.
As highlighted by an indicator such as the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), countries located on the coast of Africa perform better than landlocked countries, which therefore face greater logistical challenges.
For example, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast have the highest Logistics Performance Indexes, while inland countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad have much worse data than those. Furthermore, trade costs can reach up to 3,800 dollars per container for landlocked countries, while for coastal countries it ranges from 1,500 to 1,800 dollars.
These countries therefore suffer not only geographical isolation but also economic isolation, as their access to international markets depends on coastal countries and, for this reason, they are vulnerable to changes in transport routes.
Likewise, an OECD study published in December 2024 states that the diversion of transit routes has caused an increase of more than 100% in logistics costs compared to the pre-crisis route, which has an impact on food prices.
The report adds that alternative trade routes generate new challenges such as crossing unstable regions, with attacks by jihadist and criminal groups, in relation to the number of truck drivers kidnapped on some routes.
Challenges of transport corridors
One of the main challenges is that African transport infrastructures still bear the traces of the colonial era and were designed for the extraction of natural resources, not for the development of intra-regional trade.
In addition, the borders dating from this era fragmented the networks and isolated terminals were created that do not encourage connectivity between neighbouring countries. This is because Africa focuses on connecting isolated points, but does not apply a real integrated network logic.
Moreover, the concept of a ‘transport corridor’ is not the same across the continent, as it is sometimes limited to a simple road infrastructure, without taking into account regional development objectives and multimodal dimensions.
Infrastructure is also affected by an excessive focus on new construction, while there are already networks that could be rebuilt or maintained.
For this reason, the Atlantic Facade project proposed by Morocco could represent a turning point for the economies of the interior countries, which are at a disadvantage with respect to the rest from a logistical and commercial point of view.