Researchers looking at investment potential in Africa are intrigued by intracontinental commerce. The infrastructure landscape is where individual nations and private capital partners begin their feasibility assessments in order to make sure that all investment opportunities are taken advantage of. The transportation industry continues to be crucial to opening up such chances for cross-border trade.
The majority of the commercial cargo market share on the continent is accounted for by rail, road, and maritime freight, according to research commissioned by the Economic Commission for Africa. Given that only 0.9% of cargo is delivered by air, it is likely that this mode’s market share will rise sharply by 2030.
There were travel limitations because commercial airlines, whose job it was to promote the movement of commerce, products, and services through variably inspired types of tourism, were negatively impacted by a global strategy of Covid-19 containment.
The International Civil Aviation Organization estimates that passenger numbers decreased by 50% in 2020, costing the sector $370 million. Similarly, due to international trade restrictions, the air freight industry saw a 19% decline in activity. Some commercial airlines were able to repurpose their planes to fly cargo like vaccines, other medical equipment, and supplies in order to prevent a harsher effect.
This experimentalism suggests that airlines, especially those under liquidation threat or in need of capital equity restructuring to satisfy operational and other cost needs, may think about combining commercial passenger flights with air supply and logistics transportation.
Infrastructure, fuel prices, and financing rates are the main barriers to utilizing the continent’s airline potential. While developing nations like Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and Ghana have their sights set on building new airports with cargo infrastructure in cities like Kano, Abuja, Lagos, Mombasa, Malindi, Tamale, Akosombo, and Takoradi, completing these developments and developing the continental sector to claim a larger market share of 2031’s projected global freight forwarding market size of $285.15 billion dollars will require policy and stakeholder coordination.
Source: BusinessDay
