The logistics of delivering tropical timber products to the market can be complicated. Whilst timber goods are generally robust, they nevertheless need specialist equipment, careful handling and protection from the elements as they move from the heat and humidity of the tropics to buyers in more temperate, largely Western climates.
West Africa is a complex market served by relatively few specialist timber carriers. Leading the way is OT Africa Line (OTAL), a well established liner carrier, now celebrating 25 years in the field and operating some of the most advanced and flexible handling equipment, containers and vessels on the West African trade.
In 1975 OTAL began operating a single ship between Europe and Nigeria. It now operates one of the most advanced container and multi-purpose ro-ro fleets on the trade, including four container ships and three of the largest ro-ro/container vessels serving the Mauritania to Angola range.
Massive development
From modest beginnings OTAL has developed enormously. The company’s first ship to Lagos was the Poole Antelope, a converted short-sea ferry with a capacity of only 17 trailers or 200 lane metres of space. Matched against the earlier ships, OTAL’s present day ro-ros are incredibly more than 80 times larger in terms of capacity. These ships are amongst the largest liner vessels able to serve West Africa and are capable of loading more than 1,200 containers (TEUs). That is the equivalent of 5,000 lane metres of cargo.
OTAL’s vessels act as floating warehouses, providing protective undercover storage for timber shipments loaded as boules or curls on bolsters or roll-trailers – plywood and veneers in dry van, ventilated containers (vents) or on flatrack containers, and unitised sawn timber either as breakbulk or in containers. In other words, OTAL’s variety of equipment and under deck capacity on the ro-ros is ideal for the loading and storage of either containerised or breakbulk (general cargo) timber consignments over long journeys. This operational flexibility is an essential component of the line’s service because it offers customers a breadth of cargo handling and shipment choice.
OTAL also operates a mixed fleet of chartered and owned tonnage to maintain vessel flexibility. This is important because it enables the company to respond to the seasonal or unexpected changes in ship capacity and type requirements. Using chartered tonnage to complement its owned capacity, OTAL can respond sensitively to market demands and fluctuations.
West African timber exports have not had an easy time of late, with turbulent commodity prices, a certain re-direction in trade sourcing and demand, fluctuating markets and growing quality and conservation pressures. The sector has been under particular pressure from environmental lobbyists and added competition from the Far East.
Western sourcing patterns have shifted with increasing raw timber stocks deriving from the more southerly West African countries, including Gabon, Cameroon and the Congos, away from the previously stronger markets of further north in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. In addition, the region has had to contend with reduced demand from its leading markets caused specifically by a lengthy recession in the European building industry.
Adapting to change
In light of this, transport operators serving the West African sub-region have had to adapt to radically changed circumstances: much lower export volumes; increased demand for the carriage of more delicate value-added products including veneers, plywood and furniture parts; fewer logs are being exported as African governments seek to add foreign exchange value to their goods at origin; and most recently, changes in the sources of West African exports have heightened intra-regional competition.
As mentioned, two traditional timber sources for the EU, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, appear to be under particular pressure from the more southerly countries of Cameroon, Gabon, Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo, which basically means a re-direction of some shipping services as carriers adapt to these developments.
Few carriers plying the West Africa trade provide as rounded a service as OTAL given the extent of the line’s consolidation expertise, depots and storage facilities, specialist container and handling equipment fleets, and flexible ship capabilities.
Between 1995 and 2000, the line invested around US$4m in a combination of timber handling facilities and equipment resources now stationed along the West African coast. This investment is indicative of the confidence still held in West Africa’s overall potential in spite of the sector’s recent and continued difficulties. Purchases of US$1.2m of new handling equipment for West Africa have been made during 2000 alone and around US$15-20m has been spent over the last 15 years.
One example of OTAL’s commitment to the region is the development of the line’s timber handling capacity in Ghana where the company owns a large depot on the strategic Axim Road in Takoradi for receiving, storing and loading of containers and consolidation of timber. At the terminal OTAL’s in-house agents, Antrak Group Ghana, operates a range of five tonne forklift trucks, a 10 tonne mobile crane, a fleet of trailers and a 28 tonne forklift truck specifically for the enhancement of depot and port operations and the handling of containers loaded for export. No other line in Takoradi, Ghana’s nominated timber export port, has the combination of such wide ranging facilities and large equipment fleet.
Trade innovators
Historically, OTAL and Antrak Ghana have been trade innovators, developing new handling methods and service standards. In the old days, a cumbersome and complicated commodity-based tariff system was employed and shipping rates were only ever given on a quay-to-quay basis. This did not encourage trade or make life easy for exporters. However, when OTAL started serving Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire in the 1970s the line dispensed with most of these complexities to make the system much more customer friendly. In effect, OTAL was an early pioneer of a rationalised tariff and documentary system, providing a simple cubic metre rate and, if needed, a single quote and integrated service from customers’ premises on a quay-to-house or house-to-house basis. Continued success on the trade very much depends on such innovation and flexibility.
The few specialist shipping lines that serve West Africa have had to become much more operationally effective and cost-efficient in order to compete in a difficult trade. The ability to assist customers with logistics from sawmill to retail floor means that carriers have dramatically improved their scope of services. In the face of stiff competition, lines like OTAL now act as one-stop shops providing the full range of transport services including consolidation, warehousing, trucking and shipping.
In spite of a difficult trade, OTAL is relatively upbeat. As one of the market leaders in a trade that has always demanded specialist skills and hardware, OTAL knows that long-term investment is critical. Whilst the sub-region’s timber sector is going through some turbulence, it has never been a trade for the faint-hearted. And, like its fellow specialists, OTAL is cautiously optimistic about the future because the company is well prepared for the long haul and has proved itself adroit at adapting to changing circumstances.
