Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa

MEETING ON THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL, REGIONAL AND SUB-REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ALMATY PROGRAMME OF ACTION, ALMARTY, 29-31 MARCH 2005

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THE ROLE OF THE MARITIME ORGANIZATION OF WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA (MOWCA) IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ALMARTY PROGRAMME OF ACTION IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The problems of transit transport and its impact on trade flows has long engaged the attention of countries of West and Central Africa and the respective sub-regional economic groupings and organizations, such as ECOWAS, UEMOA, CEMAC and MOWCA. It is the crucial subject currently being dealt with by Governments of the sub-region in their effort to achieve sub-regional and regional economic integration.

The problems centre on inadequate transit transport infrastructure, physical and non-physical barriers, cumbersome transit procedures; all being noted to contribute to high unit cost of transport, insurance and long transit times in West and Central Africa.

In many cases the land transit cost as a percentage of ocean transport cost (in respect of shipments from northwest Europe through some transit ports in the sub-region) has been estimated to range from 71% to 171%. It is one major factor inhibiting regional economic integration.

The high costs of transit transport continue to seriously undermine in particular, the external trade competitiveness of the 5 landlocked countries of the West and Central African sub-region, which risk being marginalised in the world trading system.

The transit countries are themselves hurt by the inefficiency of transit transport systems as this impede trade expansion within the contest of intra-regional trade, investment and wider economic integration. The transit countries have also realised the economic/commercial importance of the use of their respective transit corridors but are constrained by way of inadequate resources to provide the required infrastructure and institutional framework for a cost-effective transit transport system.

In the field of maritime transport, efficiency of transit transport has serious implications to the development of multimodal transport and logistics services.

Indeed the growth in world containerized cargo flows has led invariably to the rapid development of multimodal transport and logistics services. The only efficient way to handle a transport chain so highly containerized is through Multimodal Transport operations.

The efficiency of logistics services largely determine a country’s international trade competitiveness as it impacts on reliability, safety, security and frequency of deliveries.

This has posed the biggest challenges to development of maritime transport infrastructure and facilitation in MOWCA member States.

Today shippers and consignees often prefer to deal with one party (the multimodal transport operator), who arranges for the transportation of goods from door to door and assumes responsibility throughout, irrespective of whether this is the party that actually carries out the different stages of transport.

Multimodal transport and logistics services are however not widely available in MOWCA member countries. This is because local service providers tend to lack the capacity to reach overseas markets, and because existing infrastructure, technologies, and the institutional and legal frameworks are often inadequate to allow efficient linkages with global operators.

In West and Central Africa, infrastructural deficiencies often impede international providers / global operators in providing integrated logistics services.

The efficient handling of containers in the transport chain, presuppose the development of efficient transit transport infrastructure including container freight stations with adequate stacking and tracking capabilities.

For a specialised Sub-regional Organisation such as MOWCA, the subject has significant implications for the establishment of efficient multi-modal transport systems, operating coastal shipping service, and generally realising the MOWCA objective of ensuring for the sub-region, a cost-effective maritime transport service that is high on safety and low on pollution.

The Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) is an Inter-Governmental, Specialised Organisation comprising twenty-five (25) States of the West and Central African sub-region, stretching from Mauritania to Angola, including five (5) landlocked Countries. It was established in 1975 under a CHARTER OF ABIDJAN as the Ministerial Conference of West and Central African States on Maritime Transport (MINCONMAR) to foster sub-regional maritime cooperation among its member States.

In August 1999, it was transformed into the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA).

The MOWCA member States share common problems of demand and supply for shipping services and associated safety and environmental protection threats. Hence they lend themselves to sectoral integration in the field of maritime transport and related marine activities, permitting the member States to derive economies of scale in the implementation of projects in the sector.

MOWCA was thus established to provide a platform for sectoral integration in the field of Maritime/Transit Transport in the sub-region. The objective is to serve the regional and international community as a one-stop shop for handling all maritime matters that are regional in character. In particular, MOWCA deals with all issues relating to cost-effectiveness of the supply and demand for shipping services in the sub-region as well as maritime safety and environmental protection.

In short MOWCA’s goal is to achieve for the West and Central African sub-region, a cost-effective maritime / transit transport service that is high on safety and low on pollution.

MOWCA works through three specialized organs namely, the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) based in Lagos, Nigeria, the Union of African Shippers' Councils (UCCA) based in Douala, Cameroon, the Association of African shipping Lines. MOWCA also has two Regional Academies based in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire and Accra, Ghana.

MOWCA’S current Work Program, approved by its General Assembly of Ministers includes five projects designated as high priority projects that are necessary for the development of intra-African trade, the integration of the sub-region and of Africa as a whole under the African Union. These projects have also been recognized by the African Development Forum, (organised by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), as important priority projects for the reduction of poverty and of the integration of Africa.

The five projects are:

Integrated sub-regional coast guard network: the aim of the project is to provide security for ships, passengers and cargoes in the sub-region’s coastal waters against piracy, armed robbery and other unlawful acts against shipping (integrated implementation of the SUA and other related IMO Conventions) as well as against marine pollution and illegal exploitation of the resources of the exclusive economic zones of member States of the Organization;

Centre for Information and Communications, whose purpose is to ensure the effective flow of maritime trade information in the sub-region and to assist Port State Control activities for the coordinated inspection of ships in the ports of the member States of the Organization;

Transit Transport facilitation and Sealed Grid System" to promote the safe, smooth, and cost-effective transit of cargoes through national borders, allowing for fluidity of cargo traffic by road; particularly to reduce transit transport cost to landlocked countries;

Coastal shipping service and sub-regional cabotage policy, intended to provide a cost-effective coastal shipping service while fostering intra-African trade and creating marine related jobs; and

Regional Maritime Fund and the establishment of a Regional Maritime Bank; for financing of National and Regional maritime and transit transport projects/programmes.

The projects are interrelated and are to be implemented together to ensure maximum impact in terms of:

Cost-effectiveness of maritime transport services in the sub-region:
Maritime Safety and Environmental Protection.
Effective Information flow in the sub-regio

MOWCA has forged co-operation with a number of international partners for the implementation of the projects. The key partners are: the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), UNCTAD, the World Bank, The European Union, UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the relevant sub-regional economic cooperation institutions viz: ECOWAS, UEMOA and CEMAC.

CURRENT MOWCA WORK PROGRAM IN THE FACILITATION OF TRANSIT TRANSPORT

The current work of MOWCA in the facilitation of transit transport, dates to the t4th UN meeting of governmental experts from landlocked and transit developing countries, held in August 1999.

The UN meeting concluded that the trade and development prospects of landlocked developing countries and their transit neighbours depend on efforts to reduce the present high cost of transit transport and to promote fast and reliable services to world markets. The meeting attributed the high transit transport costs to:

Inadequate and poorly maintained physical infrastructure;
A broad range of non-physical obstacles such as poor utilisation of assets, weak and inefficient transport management, cumbersome and incompatible procedures, outmoded financial, regulatory and institutional systems, trade imbalances and inadequate security often accompanied by very high user charges;
Difficulties and constraints faced by landlocked and transit developing countries in developing and maintaining the physical transport infrastructure, and in ameliorating non-physical barriers, which require levels of investment that are very large and often beyond their financial capabilities.

For the specific case of West and Central Africa, the meeting noted the following difficulties encountered:

Problem of mobilizing finance for road construction and maintenance
The limited effects of the procedures for privatizing transport structures
The difficulty of implementing the provisions of the conventions on inter-state road transit because of the low level of qualifications of those involved, and
The impact of the use of new information technologie

To address the problems of Transit Transport, a MOWCA-European Commission Symposium for Land locked and Transit member states of MOWCA, funded by the European Commission was held on 27thFebruary-1st March 2001.

To this effect, MOWCA had completed studies on the subject relating to various modes of transit transport, i.e. road, rail, sea as well as customs, port and other auxiliary facilitation procedures. Resource personnel from MOWCA member states delivered papers on their respective experiences in the field of transit transport. See www.marineafric.com

The symposium reviewed the transit transport system in West and Central Africa focusing on the problems and prospects. It reached two major conclusions presented in a Resolution; they are:

the need for Transit Transport Facilitation Committees;
the need to ensure customs safety of transit transport vehicles across the border

The symposium came out with an agenda for ensuring a cost-effective transit transport system for the sub-region.

Following the MOWCA-EU Symposium on Transit Transport held in Abidjan in February 2001, the MOWCA projects on Transit Transport were discussed at the United Nations meeting on Transit Transport held in New York July 31 – August 3, 2001.

MOWCA has since been working with all actors on the introduction of a Sealed Grid System to ensure safe and smooth transiting of cargo by road in the sub-region.

The current Work Program of MOWCA in the area of Transit Transport falls in line with the International Trade Facilitation measures of the Almarty Programme of Action, as shown in 3 below.

THE ALMARTY PROGRAMME OF ACTION

Facilitation of transit transport and the Sealed Grid System for transportation of transit goods

The Almarty Programme of Action, adopted by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 58/201 of 23 December 2003,, stipulates specific measures to establish efficient transit transport systems, recognizing the link between transport and international trade and economic growth. These specific actions are to be implemented in five priority areas, namely:

Fundamental transit policy issues
Infrastructure development and maintenance
International trade and trade facilitation
International support measures
Implementation and revie

INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TRADE FACILITATION

While MOWCA makes considerable input into the formulation of Fundamental Transit policies at the levels of ECOWAS, UEMOA and CEMAC, its main role as a specialised sectoral sub-regional Organization, in the Almarty Program of Action, is in the area of International trade facilitation.

This involves the implementation of sub-regional conventions regarding inter-state road and rail conventions adopted by the sub-regional Economic Communities, ie ISRT/ECOWAS and TIPAC/CEMAC through:

promotion of the use of the Sealed Grid System for safe and smooth transiting of goods across national borders of member States of MOWCA;

establishment of Transit Transport Facilitation Committees along the transit corridors of the sub-region

3.1 PROJECT ON THE USE OF THE SEALED GRID SYSTEM

The Customs Convention relating to international goods transport using the TIR carnet, known as the TIR Convention (1975), defines four (4) basic requirements concerning the principles underlying the transit system adopted by the IRST/ECOWAS and TIPAC/UDEAC conventions:

goods should be transported in vehicles or containers with guarantees of customs safety (sealing);
the required customs duties and taxes should be guaranteed (for transit countries) throughout the journey, using an internationally recognized guarantee;
goods should be accompanied by an internationally accepted TIR carnet, used in the country of departure which should serve as a control document in the consignment, transit and destination countries;
customs control measures taken in the country of departure should be accepted by the country of transit and destination.

In the MOWCA, ECOWAS and CEMAC area, 70% of vehicles for inter-State goods transport are thought to be more than ten years old; since they are dilapidated, they are unfit for customs safety (sealing) during transit.

This unacceptable situation is recognized by all transport and transit operators as the main cause for the fragmentary, defensive and ineffective interpretation and application of ISRT/ECOWAS and TIPAC/CEMAC conventions.

In fact, it is the reason for unlawful charges averaging CFAF 2,000 per checkpoint per vehicle, successive and excessive checkpoints ( average of 1 checkpoint every 40 km and 10 minutes spent at each checkpoint) on all the transit transport corridors, the lack of customs safety, regarding the bodywork of vehicles used on the transit corridors.

To remedy this situation, the MOWCA General Assembly, at its 11th Ordinary Session from 11 to 15 June 2001 in Abuja (Nigeria) adopted the Sealed Grid System (SGP), as a solution for the customs safety of the 70% of inter-State goods transport vehicles in the sub-region (See Resolution No. 185/11/01 relating to the organization of the sealing grid test “S G P” in West and Central Africa).

The "SGP" material is a grid, either made up of metallic net or sisal net, or of synthetic or semi-reinforced synthetic net. The grid thus manufactured is stretched over a (10, 20, 30 or 40 tonnes) truck and sealed by the customs to provide safety during international transportation.

The SGP aims, among others, at providing greater safety and reliability of vehicles used in Transit Transport, in order to ensure that they meet the technical customs standards requirements, provided for under the IRST/ECOWAS and TIPAC/CEMAC conventions.

The use of the Sealed Grid System "SGP" should result in the following:

Clear customs doubt on the technical reliability of vehicles (road/rail)

Possibly spare expensive customs escorts;

Prevent overloading of vehicles transporting goods

Substantial reduction in administrative red-tapes, and as a result, non-authorized additional costs and transit time;

Facilitate trans-border passages and extend the field of operation of road vehicle

Possibly facilitate door-to-door insurance of goods.