Port congestion determinants and impacts on logistics and supply chain network of five African ports

Abstract

This paper typically applied the concept of ranking by inspection using the dwell time of ships in five African ports to evaluate the variations in ship turnaround time and relative efficiency level. This is to identify the active factors that cause port congestion in African ports. The results provided some explanations on the consequences arising from these on notable African logistics and supply chain networks. The findings reveal that the bane of congestion in African ports emanates entirely from either planning, regulation, capacity, efficiency or a combination of these. The regression analysis with IBM SPSS v20 reveals that there is a significant relationship between cargo throughput and other port performance indicators in Nigeria for the study period (2005 - 2014). More so, the t-test reveals that there is a significant relationship between cargo throughput and berth occupancy rate which is significantly indicative of port congestion. This paper therefore recommends that African ports should enhance their regulatory mechanisms, and also improve capacity and efficiency level in order to shoulder the ever increasing challenges of port congestion in years ahead.