GEOG 323: Regional Geography of Africa (East Africa)

Transportation, Manufacturing
and Trade

Dr Isaac K. Arthur

Department of Geography and Resource Development

University of Ghana, Legon

Transportation
The role of humans and animals as earliest means of
transport:
Head porterage is the oldest form of transport.

Head porterage still predominates in isolated and

remote areas in some underdeveloped parts of the
world, e.g. in Africa and South East Asia.
The predominance of this mode of transport is
reflected in network of footpaths which are usually
the routes linking the sites of natural production,
water sources and habitation.
After domesticating animals, man trained some of
them as means of transport.

 The important beast of burden in East Africa are the camel,

donkeys and horses.
Cattle also feature as beast of burden in Masailand.
The use of humans and animals as modes of transport has
declined with technological, economic and social
development.

Nonetheless, much of the agriculture produce in the rural

areas are still moved from the farms in head loads, on the
backs of animals or in carts drawn by animals.

Rail & Road Transport

Objectives:
To discuss the reasons for the construction of roads and
railways in East Africa.
Outline the roles they play in the economy of the region.

 All countries of the East Africa except the Islands of Zanzibar

have railway lines.
The lines often starts from the ports on the coast to major
mineral and agriculture producing areas to help evacuate the
products for exports.
The railway lines in Uganda, Kenya and mainland Tanzania are
linked and form a single network.
The Mombasa-Uganda Railway line stared in 1896 partly to
facilitate the military and religious penetration of Uganda and
to open up the fertile and unoccupied areas of the Kenya
Highlands in order to provide traffic and make the venture
economically viable.

 The line was extended to Nairobi, a railway camp,

by 1899 and two years later, it reached Kisumu on
Lake Victoria and extended to Kampala in 1931.
It was later extended to Kasesi on the Congo
border

Lines are normally single track and trains are of

small capacity, and because of the narrow gauge
the trains are slow.

East African Railways

Greywall Productions 2000-2010

 Branch lines to Makadi facilitated soda extraction and extension

to the foot of Mount Kenya, and from Tororo to Soroti facilitated
cotton production.
During WW 1 a connection was made to the Northern line in
Tanganyika to facilitate military operations into German East
Africa.
The port of Tanga in northern Tanazania was linked by rail in 1911.

The line was extended to Arusha in 1929 to serve important sisal

growing areas and the coffee producing regions of Mount
Kilimanjaro and Meru.
However, much of the traffic from these areas moves through
Mombasa.

 The Tanzam railway, built by the Chinese

before the collapse of minority rule in
Zimbabwe and southern Africa, links
Tanzania and Zambia.
It enable Zambia use Tanzania ports
instead of relying on Mozambique,
Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and
Angola.
Poor funding for railways in Kenya in
recent times and a spate of derailments
and accidents led to the suspension of
passenger traffic.

The role of railway to the regions economy:

Railway constitute the backbone of the transport system in East
Africa but other forms of transport also play important roles.
Railways made possible economic carriage of bulky materials and
heavy goods by land.

The rapid movement of goods, people, and mail helped to

accelerate development.
Railways are best suited for the carriage of large consignments over
long distances especially of heavy bulky commodities.
New settlements developed along the railway lines.

Limitations of rail transport:

The use of fixed tracks and the routes operate between fixed
terminals and trans-shipments are necessary.
The cost of Carriage of small consignments and short hauls
tends to be high.
Large capital investment is required for railway construction
and the maintenance and operating cost are heavy.

Road Transport
Roads are the most rapidly developing means of transport in
East Africa, both in quality and quantity.
Roads are aligned along footpaths which followed the natural
topography closely and were characterised by steep slopes and
sharp bends that had to be eliminated over times.
Motorable roads for a long time were confined to coastal areas
and only trunk roads penetrated inlands, providing access to
the hinterlands.

Road System in Dar es Salaam:

There is some confusion about the extent and state of Dar es
Salaams road network due to the various classifications used and
whether or not they cover the entire region or just the most
urbanized part.

In 1995 the region had a road system of about 1150 km comprising

arterial (13%), collector (27%), and access (60%) roads.
Approximately 61% of the total system was unpaved.

Most of the access roads are located outside the urban areas, so the
effective network comprises the arterial and collector roads of some
460 km.

Much of the central arterial system was re-surfaced and key parts
widened under Japanese grant assistance of Tshs 22 billion (US$
37m) in the mid-1990s.
(Howe & Bryceson 2000)

The Dar es Salaam public transport system:

The market for public transport services in DSM has gone
through two main regimes.
Near monopoly by state provision up to the mid-1980s, and
de facto liberalization thereafter [Mbelle 1993].
Even during the period of monopoly the state provided
services were rarely able to meet demands.

Illegal share taxi services helped to fill the gaps; also many
state organizations and other major employers maintained
their own bus fleets.
(Howe & Bryceson 2000)

 In 1983 the government allowed private operators to provide

transport services for the city population.

They quickly grew to dominate with a 90% market share by

1989.

Increase in private vehicle ownership in the 1990s.

(Howe & Bryceson 2000)

Road System in Nairobi:

There are around 300 kms of main and 850 kms of
access roads, including unpaved earth tracks, much in a
deteriorated condition.
A 1992 survey found only 39% of the network surfaces
to be in a good or adequate condition, the remainder
being poor or very poor requiring resurfacing or
reconstruction.
However, drainage conditions were worse with 56%
poor (under-designed) or very poor (non-functional)
and 17% having no roadside drains or culverts.

The Nairobi public transport system:

Apart from some very limited commuter rail operations, consists
entirely of road-based services, which are fully private.
The system operates in a largely deregulated environment:
o there is little or no government control of, or even influence on,
such crucial elements as route structure, licensing, operational
practices, timetables or fares.
The Kenya Bus Services, private companys operations.

Nairobis paratransit consists of privately owned matatus (shared

taxis), mostly operating on the same routes as KBS, but without
timetables.
(Howe & Bryceson 2000)

Importance of road transport:

Motors cars, lorries and coaches are playing an important and
ever-increasing role in the transportation of passengers and
goods.
Has the advantages of flexibility of service, greater speed over
short distances and directness of communication over other
forms of transport.
Lorries provide fairly cheap and rapid door-to-door transport
and have captured some of the traffic formerly carried by the
railways.
Movement of raw materials, finished good and labour force.
Help to open up and develop richly endowed areas.

Challenges:
Very steep slopes and thick vegetation hinder the
construction of roads and railway.
Rugged relief restrict the provision of airfields and
airports.

Torrential rains destroy roads and railway an disrupts

the operation of flight schedules.

Water and Air Transport

Water Transport:
Most rives in East Africa are not navigable over long stretches due to
irregular flow of water and falls or cataracts in river courses.
Some portions of the Tana and Rufuji rivers are navigable.

Lake Victoria provides an important means of inland water transport

for the three East African Regions.
Marine transport links East Africa with other parts of the world.
Water transport is the cheapest and most convenient for the
movement of large, bulky and low-value and imperishable goods
such as coal, ore, timber, gravel, etc.

Air Transport:
Air transport links the major settlements in each country and
East Africa with the outside world through the international
airports at Entebbe, Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.
Each country has a national airline.
The defunct East African Airways was established as public
corporation in 1945 to provide domestic services and
operated flights to several other African countries, India and
Europe.

 Air Kenya operates to Kilimanjaro.

Safari Link and Mombasa Air Safaris service mainly the
tourism industry.
There are several charter companies that serve about
150 airstrips around Kenya.
Similar operations, but smaller scale, are available in
Tanzania and Uganda.
Strong winds, torrential rains and droves of birds
present a hazard to air transport.

Manufacturing in East Africa

Introduction:

Objectives:

The types and

distribution of
manufacturing activities
in East Africa

Identify the nature of

manufacturing
industries.

mention on the main

factors that have
influenced the location
of industrial activities in
the sub-region

General & historical perspectives

There was little manufacturing in East Africa before 1950.
Small scale joinery and engineering workshops were limited
to flour milling, oil refinery, bakery, cigarette production,
brewery, clothing manufacture, brick-making and printing.
The most important and widespread manufacturing industries
are those using local raw materials to produce bulky
commodities that are costly to transport, such as cement,
beer, flour and furniture.

The major industries that are dependent mainly upon

imported raw materials are oil refining, metal processing and
printing.

 Steel production started in East Africa by using scrap.

Most factories were very small, and owned by local Asian

businessmen.
A few local concerns were owned by overseas companies of
their local subsidiaries

The main factors that influenced

industrialization in East Africa
Availability of raw materials locally and the ability to obtain
them abroad,
Lack of capital and local business enterprise.
Energy supplies.
Labour supplies, particularly the technical know-how and the
level of education.
Transportation.
The small size of the local markets which the EA community
operated in has expanded for the member countries.
The general low level of incomes.
Government policies-taxation, provision of utilities subsidies,
incentives and import restrictions through tariffs

Nature and distribution of manufacturing

industry
Manufacturing is much better developed in Kenya than in
Tanzania and Uganda.
The Europeans set up factories to process agricultural crops,
mill grain, can butter and meat, and tan leather.
The Europeans were influential to obtain some tariffs
protection against imported goods and ensure free entry of
goods made in Kenya into Uganda and Tanganyika.
Asians were active in commerce, vehicle and machinery repair
work, and also small scale manufacture items.

 The immigrant communities invested a considerable

proportion of their profits locally.

In 2006 industry, mining and construction contributed 19% of

Kenyas GDP.
Nairobi, the main centre of manufacturing industries in the
region has good transport and communication, for
distribution of imported and locally produced goods to the
rest of Kenya and other parts of East Africa.
Dar es Salaam, major manufacturing centre in Tanzania
followed by Arusha.
For Uganda: Kampala, Jinja and Tororo

Classification of manufacturing
industries in East Africa

Food, drink and tobacco

Textile and clothing
Building materials
Chemical and related industries
Metal and Engineering

Problems of Industrialisation
Less development of primary products to support more
vibrant industries.
More industries are concentrated in the main cities.
Industrial development will depend upon the availability of
local and foreign capital, political stability, improvement of
energy supplies and transportation facilities.

 Labour must be trained to increase the

quantity and quality of product.
Import restrictions are necessary for the
development of new industries and expansion
of new ones.

Trade
Objective:
Discuss the basses for local, regional and
international trade in East Africa

Internal trade
Trade was carried out in East Africa before the arrival of Arabs
and Europeans in the region.
The Masai supplied Arusha with meat, milk and skin in
exchange for grain, tobacco and honey.
In Kenya the Kisii provided the neighbour Luo, traditional
fisherfolk, with grain in exchange of fish.
In Uganda the Madi supplied fish to Lugbara, often received
goats in exchange.
Fish is an important commodity in the internal trade of the
region.

 Trade with East Africa has provided the main basis for
development.

The large cities and towns of the region have grown owing to
their trading function even though many originated as
administrative centres.
The wholesalers in the large towns buy goods from importers
and from local manufacturers and sell them to retailers.
Some handle local agricultural produced which is supplied by
small traders from the rural areas.

Formerly, the Asians dominated the import and export trade.

 Marketing is increasingly undertaken by co-operative societies

which process several products and pass them on to the
exporting firms and government marketing boards.
Timber, minerals and other export commodities produced on
a large scale are sold directly to the exporters.
Nairobi is the most important centre of trade in East Africa.

Mombasa is the leading port in East Africa and a major centre

of trade.
Zanzibar is an important commercial centre for the three
islands of Zanzibar.

 Dar es Salaam is the leading port of Tanzania, but it does not

dominate the whole country.

Arusha and Moshi have closer trading links with parts of

Kenya and with the port of Tanga while Bukoba has closer ties
with Uganda and Kenya.
The formation of the East African Community has led to an
increase and expansion of regional trade.

External Trade
Until recently trade of East Africa with other African countries
was very small.
The greater part of external trade of Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda is with the EU, USA, Canada and Japan.
The Middle East and India play a large part in the trade of East
Africa and China has become useful outlet.

Exports:
East Africa exports may be divided into three broad groups:
Agriculture and horticultural products, mineral and
manufactured goods.

The most important exports from the region are coffee, tea
and cotton.
The minor agricultural products include wattle bark and
extract, pyrethrum, tobacco, fruits and vegetables, hides and
skins and meat products.

 East Africa has a variety of minerals, but mining is not very

important to the region.
Minerals account for only a small part of the regions total
export trade.
Leading mineral exports are gold an diamonds from Tanzania,
copper from Uganda, soda ash from Kenya with fluorspar of
lesser importance.

Exported manufactured produce include petroleum products

from the refineries at Mombasa and Der es Salaam and
cement from the factory near Mombasa.

Imports:
There is a great demand for imported manufactured goods.
The leading import item consist of machinery for factories and
farm electrical, machinery, transport and equipment such as
railway rolling stock and various kinds of motor vehicles.
Others include iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and paper
and paper products.
Food imports, which are less important than in many West
Africa include wheat flour, rice and dairy product.