| Seaports are integral part of logistics chain and they are expected to operate sustainably and efficiently by improving maritime transport,supply chain management and customer satisfaction.This concept is proven as a fact that global trade is largely seaborne,with vessels carrying around 60,000 billion ton-miles transporting energy,raw materials,grains,and manufactured products from port of origin to port of destination.Nowadays,the competitiveness of a seaport largely depends on its throughput capacity,operational efficiency and quality of services.Aside these factors,the accessibility between seaports and their hinterland has been identified as one of the most critical factors for competition and development of world‘s major seaports.As a result,seaport operators and relevant government departments have developed multiple strategies and policies to improve their hinterland accessibility as a response to increased traffic volumes,shrinking public budgets and increasing competition from road and rail transport system.The expansion of a port‘s hinterland mainly depends on the characteristics of cargoes,spatial distribution of markets from port to hinterland and the distribution network of cargo origin.All these influencing factors finally determines the accessibility from seaport to hinterland through a superposition of time and transport cost from seaport to hinterland.Therefore,the purpose of this study is to conduct an empirical analysis on the operational efficiency of West African seaports and their hinterland accessibility in order to develop a sustainable hinterland transport network for the region.Based on the specific criteria associated to the objective,this study reviewed and sorted out relevant academic literature in order to gain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the existing research concept.This study focuses on six major seaports in West Africa(Dakar,Abidjan,Tema,Lomé,Cotonou and Lagos,)and their hinterland configurations.In addition,this paper also analyzes major contemporary issues such as port hinterland pilot projects,bilateral agreements on transit corridors and associated monetary policies.To determine the growth rate of seaport‘s transit traffic and the development of potential transit corridors,this study focuses on West African hinterland markets(Bamako,Niamey and Ouagadougou)therefore,performing a comprehensive demand forecast in order to evaluate possible capacity constraints of major gateway ports and the need for developing inland freight distribution centers(dry port)in the region.Aiming at measuring the level of competitiveness among the six selected candidate seaports,this study uses(DEA Malmquist)productivity index to evaluate the operational efficiency(i.e productivity)of these seaports to determine which seaport are competent as gateways and provides best customer services to port users.The result of this empirical analysis shows that the port of Lomé is currently the most efficient seaport in the region with a growth rate of 12.1% during the period of study.This paper also evaluates the generalized transport costs from each seaport to hinterland markets via the six major West African transit corridors.Based on the generalized transport costs,all the indices of Seaports‘ Hinterland Accessibility have been estimated by using the Probability Traffic Flow Model.The above said Accessibility Indices can reflect the actual frequencies of selecting seaports and their paths towards the hinterlands by port customers.The highest accessibility index means that the minimum generalized transport costs result in the highest frequency of port use chosen by shippers.In addition,this paper also reveals some specific implicit cost for selected transit corridors such as bribery at multiple checkpoints,in-transit inventory and hedging cost.Although these costs are underestimated or even ignored by shippers because they translate into indirect costs,they have a significant impact on the overall supply chain operation and related logistics systems in West Africa.Subsequently,this paper uses questionnaire and interview survey analysis to determine the specific index factors related to this research and influential to dry port development in Cote d‘Ivoire.A multi-criteria decision-making analysis is used to select the best location for dry port development.A combination of Accessibility Factor(AF),Economic and Social Factors(ESF),Environmental Factors(EF),Location Factors(LF)and Political Factors(PF)were applied with a scoring model to prioritize alternatives.The finding of this study shows that Ferkessédougou in the Savannah region is the best location for developing a dry port in Cote d‘Ivoire.Therefore,it is vital to improve traffic along CU7 a and CU7 b transit corridors,as this tends to be the spine of Cote d‘Ivoire‘s transport network to major markets in the hinterland.Finally,this paper enumerated the main research conclusion,outlook,relevant countermeasures and viable recommendations. |
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