The Ivorian conflict has caused the rerouting of of Malian goods through Dakar instead of the port of Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, the Malian national daily, L’Essor, reported Thursday.
According to the newspaper, since the “turnover” of Malian goods from the port of Abidjan to the port of Dakar, Senegal has given many incentives to traders from Mali, including a 10% discount on rental rates of warehouses under customs and 50 per cent on royalty on goods landed and boarding as well as a flat rate for containers in transit without distinction of goods transported.
The paper said, however, that the new development also came with its problems — the long transportation distance and the high cost of transportation.
According to the paper, the Autonomous Port of Dakar was not prepared to accommodate such a flow of goods to Mali, which today makes the Bamako-Dakar Corridor, the first entry of imports for Mali, with nearly two million tonnes of cargo in 2010 against 1.6 million in 2009.
The traffic is mainly by road and rail.
In terms of import, road transportation moved 1,678,873 tons of goods in 2010, while railway ferried more than 245,830 tonnes.
These imports consist mainly of food products in 2010 (224,018 tons), oil (332,515 tonnes), machinery and equipment (161.29 tons) and fertilizer (332,516 tons).
At the port of Dakar, Mali has a warehouse covering 2,356 square meters of storage, 17,018 square metres of quay and a bonded warehouse of 7,000 square metres.
More than 300 trucks are loaded daily destined for Mali
