By CAROLINE TREFAULT

As Africa’s economies continue to diversify and grow at around 4% year-on-year on average, moving goods across the continent is becoming more complex, time-sensitive, and strategically important. Ports are essential gateways for international trade, but the effectiveness of Africa’s trade systems is ultimately determined inland, by how efficiently cargo moves between ports, industrial centres, and consumer markets.

Transport infrastructure, including rail, is recognised as crucial to economic development and regional integration in Africa. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) notes that transport, including rail, will see increased freight volumes of approximately 28% by 2030 as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) expands trade flows, but this opportunity depends on implementing regional infrastructure projects.

In many African markets, trade growth is constrained less by maritime capacity than by inland connectivity. Long distances and limited infrastructure place pressure on supply chains, particularly along corridors linking landlocked countries to seaports. As volumes increase, these challenges become more pronounced. Rail, where operational and strategically integrated, offers capacity, consistency, and an alternative to road-centric transport.

Rail’s role in inland connectivity and planning certainty

Rail’s value is not theoretical. Where infrastructure exists, trains can carry volumes that would otherwise require dozens of trucks, ease roadway congestion and enhancing cargo flow sustainability. In long-distance African trade corridors, this scale advantage becomes increasingly important as regional trade expands.

Rail also offers measurable safety and security benefits. Compared to road freight, rail transport generally records fewer accidents per tonne-kilometre, particularly on long-haul routes dominated by heavy-truck traffic. Dedicated rail lines reduce exposure to mixed-traffic risks and limit cargo handling points, improving shipment integrity. For cargo owners, this translates into reduced loss exposure, improved reliability, and stronger supply chain resilience.

Another of rail’s most significant contributions to trade efficiency is predictability. Trains are less exposed to traffic congestion, road deterioration, and weather-related disruption, enabling more consistent transit times across long corridors. This predictability strengthens inventory planning, production scheduling, and alignment with maritime services. As economies seek to expand regional trade, the ability to move higher volumes inland with reliability and lower risk becomes a strategic advantage.

Policy context and regional integration

Rail’s strategic role also aligns with continental policy goals. The AfCFTA, which aims to expand intra-African trade, will increase freight demand across all transport modes, including rail, but realising these gains requires investment in transport infrastructure. The UNECA emphasises that doubling freight volumes under AfCFTA will require substantial expansion of trunk transport networks and wagons, including rail.

Transport infrastructure goes beyond moving goods. It stretches to supporting broader integration by connecting economic nodes and lowering barriers to cross-border commerce. Robust rail corridors complement trade agreements by reducing physical frictions that can nullify tariff reductions when transport costs remain high.

Sustainability and long-term resilience

Sustainability is an increasingly important consideration for supply chains globally. Rail freight is generally more energy-efficient and produces 76% less CO2 per tonne-kilometre than road freight because of better fuel efficiency and lower energy demand.

In continental contexts where long distances and bulk movement predominate, this efficiency offers a pathway to reducing carbon intensity while maintaining competitive logistics costs. As African manufacturers, exporters, and importers focus more on environmental performance, in line with global sustainability goals, rail provides a freight option that complements these ambitions.

Private sector participation

Rail infrastructure performance in several African markets has historically ached from underinvestment and state monopolies. Recognising this, policymakers are increasingly exploring ways to involve private sector expertise in rail freight operations.

For example, the Côte d’Ivoire–Burkina Faso corridor which stretches approximately 1,150 – 1,260 kilometres between the Port of Abidjan and Ouagadougou and includes a major railway line linking the two countries. This vital freight link operates under a concession arrangement through SITARAIL, a joint venture (JV) between Africa Global Logistics (AGL) and the national rail authorities of both countries. The SITARAIL JV has recently implemented significant investments to modernise the corridor’s rolling stock, including the acquisition of new locomotives and additional freight wagons to increase hauling capacity, improve operational reliability, and reduce turnaround times along the Abidjan–Ouagadougou axis.

This model reflects a structured public–private framework designed to strengthen corridor performance while maintaining national oversight. Such arrangements demonstrate how collaboration between state entities and experienced logistics operators can contribute to maintaining critical inland trade routes that connect landlocked economies to maritime gateways.

In East Africa, the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) corridor plays a vital role in moving containers out of the Port of Mombasa, offering a faster and more reliable alternative to road transport. Freight trains deliver containers to Nairobi in less than 10 hours, compared to nearly two days by truck, significantly easing congestion at the port and improving national logistical efficiency.

Rail transport of containers between Mombasa and Nairobi continues to gain momentum, reaching historic records. In October 2025, the SGR moved 640,000 tonnes of freight in a single month, its highest level since operations began, equivalent to 23,000 trucks. This rapid growth confirms the central role of rail in efficiently clearing containers from the Port of Mombasa, reducing reliance on road transport, and strengthening its position as the backbone of container movements in Kenya—significantly lowering logistics costs while limiting heavy-truck traffic along the Mombasa–Nairobi corridor.

These reforms reflect a broader trend of public-private engagement in rail logistics, where commercial operators bring operational capability, technology, and capital to complement state infrastructure, improving overall corridor performance.

MSC’s intermodal approach

For logistics operators such as MSC, rail is part of an integrated network that combines it with road and maritime transport to move cargo seamlessly from origin to destination. MSC recently revealed it is strengthening solutions around its long-established intermodal capabilities, demonstrating how it delivers true end-to-end transport beyond the port. This involves strategic inland corridors – Côte d’Ivoire–Burkina Faso, Cameroon, South Africa, Kenya, and Nacala–Malawi – which play a key role in connecting landlocked regions to coastal gateways, each central to the efficient movement of goods across some of Africa’s most commercially active supply chains.

The shipping company continuously evaluates opportunities to strengthen and expand this network to enhance market connectivity and provide customers with alternative routing options. A key example is the Lobito Corridor, which connects the mineral-rich Copperbelt regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Atlantic through Angola’s Port of Lobito. This corridor represents an infrastructure revival, and a structural shift in Southern Africa’s trade architecture, offering an Atlantic alternative for copper and cobalt exports, reducing transit times to Europe and the Americas, and reinforcing regional integration objectives under AfCFTA.

Rail is crucial in the broader intermodal transport solution, and it makes operational and economic sense. By incorporating rail into inland logistics solutions, MSC supports cargo flows between ports and hinterland markets in a way that complements road transport and aligns closely with maritime schedules. This corridor-led approach reflects a practical response to capacity constraints, congestion, and the growing demand for reliable inland connectivity across Africa.

Africa’s trade expansion depends on how well transport modes interconnect to support growing economic complexity. MSC's regional trade deepens and infrastructure evolves, rail’s role as a backbone of Africa’s trade landscape will become even more concrete, supporting competitive participation in global commerce.

•Caroline Trefault is Intermodal Africa Manager at MSC.

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