The multimodal transport system for the East African land-locked countries

Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Science in Maritime Affairs

Specialization

Port Management

Campus

Malmö, Sweden

Country

Uganda

First Advisor

Ma, Shuo

Abstract

Shipping has always been a key transport mode for the external trade of all countries. Most countries in the East African region are land-locked - Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Eastern Zaire with Kenya and Tanzania as the only coastal states. Improvements and diversification of inland modes of transport is as important to these land-locked countries (LLCs) as indeed is the qualitative improvements in ports themselves.

This study examines how the multimodal transport concept could lower the transport costs for the LLCs in the region. The study identifies the current transit transportation routes and modes, and presents an analysis of the financial and economic costs associated with each route for different types of cargo. The data and information used concentrate on transport costs and issues from the two main sea ports of Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam to the main destinations in the LLCs, namely Kampala, Kigali, Bujumbura and Goma. Multimodal transport is in essence part of intermodalism which is a process and not a hardware, i.e. awareness.

Multimodal transport should therefore be developed as a major component of intermodalism. It is against this background that the analysis focuses on the total transportation costs to the shipper and not the freight costs charged by operators of the transport modes used. The cost analysis tackles both official and unofficial (“acceleration”) costs, particularly relevant to the road transport, payable by the operators but increase the shipper’s costs. Elimination of these costs could further reduce overall transport cost of the shipper.

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