Bottlenecks in Freight Forwarding in West Coast Africa

The expansion of trade across borders has placed great focus on a particular link in the supply chain: the intermediaries. This study focuses on one specific form of intermediaries, the freight forwarders. The activities of a freight forwarder in developed countries are eased and stimulated by supportive policies and regulations, competitive markets, sophisticated infrastructure, and flawless inter-institutional coordination. In the case of Africa, cross border trade procedures represent a challenge with both time and cost related implications for supply chains. This study addressed the issue of bottlenecks within the freight forwarding sector in West coast Africa, specifically in Angola, Cameroon, DR of Congo, Gabon and Nigeria, with the purpose of identifying such constraints, producing a theoretical model and a number of recommendations to be implemented in the industry.