For detailed country-by-country information about road disruptions in Africa and all over the world, see the reports from the World Food Program, Bolloré Logistics and Logistics Cluster.
The individual logistics situtation and operations for each country are listed in an Excel database.
Download the Excel file here.
Europe
Traffic remains fluid within the EU countries for transporting cargo; however, border controls are effective in many countries and long queues are reported, especially between central European countries. Waiting time can be up to 2–3 hours to cross a border. Borders between Germany, France and Switzerland, and Romania and Bulgaria, continue to report queues and delays of around 2 hours.
Sixfold provides an excellent tool to check live information on queues at EU borders.
In rail news, Ethiopia is exporting using a multimodal route that incorporates rail transport to Djibouti and then sea freight.
Colruyt Group makes fruit and vegetable deliveries greener
European retailer Colruyt Group is now using green folding crates in its food stores (Fresh Plaza, 28 August). The new folded crates take up four times less space on the return trip, which means returning only 200,000 pallets back to the return centres instead of 700,000 a year. Colruyt Group will replace a total of 8 million crates. The old blue crates will be pulverised and used to produce the new green folding crates.
South Africa: Improved cold air flow within a reefer container
Dunlash South Africa has developed a new Refrigerated Air Flow Technologies (RAFT) kit that fits into any 40 foot reefer container (Fresh Plaza, 28 August). This kit forces the chilled air to follow a more horizontal path through the pallets by covering part of the container floor with a floor liner, and blocking the air space above and below the pallets. As the chilled air is delivered through a smaller surface area and not over the top of the load, the velocity of the air increases, resulting in improved penetration through the entire load and thus better management of fruit pulp temperature. Trials on stone fruit and citrus in containers packed with their RAFT kit, compared to control containers on the same voyage, have shown that the system is able to reduce the temperature difference within the load by 1.5°C to 2°C, with a direct impact on quality on arrival.
Togo: Adétikopé industrial platform for processing local products
Construction work has begun on the Adétikopé industrial platform (plate-forme industrielle d’Adétikopé, PIA), which aims to increase the processing of mainly agricultural local products and create added value (Commodafrica, 26 August). At a cost of FCFA 130 billion (€ 198 million), the PIA is located 27 km from Lomé on an area of around 400 ha, and includes an industrial zone and integrated logistics services. Phase 1 (129 ha) should be operational in January 2021. The PIA is the result of a partnership between Togo and ARISE IIP, with Olam International and Africa Finance Corporation as shareholders. The site will include a parking lot for 700 trucks, a container park with a capacity of 12,500 TEU, an unloading and transfer warehouse, a storage site, and 200,000 m2 dedicated to logistics activities. Investors will benefit from a one-stop shop.