Problem – The expansion of global trade and supply chain integration has put great emphasis on logistics, particularly in the intermediary sector, freight forwarders. Whilst in developed countries freight forwarders benefit from competitive markets and trade facilitating policies, this sector in West coast Africa exhibits low logistics performance levels.
In order to address such issues, one needs to analyse the problem and identify the causes; this study focuses on identifying the bottlenecks in the freight-forwarding sector in west coast Africa.
Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to identify the bottleneck/s within the freight-forwarding industry in west coast Africa, namely: Angola, Cameroon, DR of Congo,Gabon, and Nigeria.
Method – This project employs a pre-study and case study method, to ensure sufficient collection of relevant material, taking into account the lack of research in this subject. We used the material obtained from the interviews and the secondary source, to structure our purpose,research questions, and to define the case of our study.
Results – The study concludes with a series of interesting findings; First, the activity of a Freight Forwarder depends on a series of factors that do not depend on the Freight Forwarder per se. And second, Freight Forwarders in order to accomplish their tasks, have access to services that are shared by all providers, and that are beyond their control. To conclude,the study identifies infrastructure as a major bottleneck in the Freight Forwarding sector.
Source: Jönköping University
Author: Abdallaoui Berrada, Chakir | Ciro, aida