Air Transport has grown strongly in Africa in recent years the availability of air

freight services has helped to boost exports. over all ,air traffic to and from the
continent has been increasing at about six percent a year over the last decade .in
southern and eastern Africa ,air traffic is growing strongly around hubs in
Johannesburg, Addis Ababa and Nairobi .But in central and west Africa the market is
stagnant. Each of the three major airport hubs is associated with a large, efficient
state owned carrier. South Africa airline in Johannesburg, Ethiopian airlines in Addis
Ababa and Kenya airways Nairobi. Another 17 of the countries of sub Saharan Africa
continue to operate weak state owned carriers in very small, protected markets.
Air transport has fast speed of delivery and this reduces unnecessary inventory
investment i.e. it is the fastest means of transport making it convenient for
transportation of perishable commodities like milk, tomatoes and delicate goods like
glass products.
Air transport has continuous operation i.e. 24 hours which facilitates global freight
operations
Reliability of delivery .air freight has a tighter control of its cargo, thus it has better
security that reduces the cargo exposure to theft, pilferage and damage.
It facilitates just in time for manufacturers and assemblers who incorporate foreign
sourced components and materials in their products.
Insurance costs are frequently lower since there are less incidents of loss or damage
Environmentally friendly since there are fewer requirements for packaging and
problem of damage and pilferage is less.
Air transport enables reach out to hard to reach areas. During the lords resistance
army war in northern Uganda, victims of war where air lifted from deep forests to
safe grounds such as towns also rebels arrested such as kwo yella, odiambo where
air lifted to military bases for interrogation.
Air transport is convenient for bulk
However, air Transport is associated with high costs i.e. in terms of transport,
storage and handling
Air transport impacts the environment for example in terms of noise and gaseous
emissions
Limited capacity i.e restrictions on the size and weight of the goods to be carried
Susceptible to adverse weather conditions
Air transport is subject to delays due to bureaucratic procedures to be followed

Additional handling to and from airports

Inadequate man power
Air transport is highly vulnerable to accidents.in 2004, more than one fifth of the
world air accidents occurred in Africa where as the continent accounted for just 4.5
percent of all flights.in 2006, carriers lost 4.31 aircraft per million departures
compared with 0.65 worldwide. Some commentators have ascribed this bad record
to use of old and inferior air craft however in recent years, fleets have undergone
extensive renewal.
Air transport services are not easily accessible i.e. there may be no airports nearby
Water transport
High capacity in terms of carriage
Continuous operations i.e. 24 hours
It is versatile i.e. carries a wide range of products
Low unit costs. There by enjoying economies of scale by moving big loads at low
unit cost
High security e.g. for container cargoes
It is an ideal method for transporting low value bulky goods
Less affected by adverse weather conditions than air transport
Natural availability.the afican continentis largely endoured with natural water bodies
such as
However
Water transport is slow that is to say low speed compared to air transport
It is inflexible that is to say; its movements are directed to particular ports
Water transport is affected by weather conditions
A lot of time is spent in loading and un loading especially on to and from noncontainer cargoes
Water transport is associated with piracy
Most countries are land locked thus making accessibility to water transport very
difficult. Land locked countries suffer high costs of transportation of commodities
from the ports these countries in Africa include Rwanda ,Burundi, Sudan ,south

Sudan ,Togo among other countries in the continent whose goods have to travel
through other countries before reaching their final destination
Political interfearence
Presence of rocks ,rapid and falls
Total loss incase of accidents
Pipe line transport

The main uses of pipeline are oil, pulverished coal and gas together with utilities of
water and sewage
Advantages of pipeline transport
Move large quantities over long distances
The cheapest means of moving liquids and gas e.g. oil
Not affected by weather
Disadvantages
it is a very slow means of transport
inflexible i.e only liquids and gas between fixed points
incase of leakage it causes fire out breaks
pipeline transport is limited to a few commodities
Road transport
This is the movement of goods and people on the roads. It is the most commonest
modes of transport used in most Africa countries .
Some of the routes include Cairo-Daker high way which stretches from Egypt to
Senegal , the trans-African high way which stretches from Kenya to Democratic
Republic of Congo ,the trans-Saharan high way which stretches from Egypt to South
Africa.
The advantages of road transport are therefore discussed .
It is flexible that to say that it reaches almost any location in Africa whether to
remote or developed areas hence making it flexible.

It is versatile ,Road transport is also versatile in that it carries a variety of items for
example most of the goods are transported from Uganda to South Sudan on road
hence making it versatile.
It is relatively cheap,road transport is relatively cheaper than othro modes of
transport like air transport.forexample the cost of boarding Kenya airways from
kampala to Nairobi is higher than the cost of boarding kampala coaches from
kampala to Nairobi hence making road transport cheaper.
Shorter overall lead time,road transport has shorter overall lead time this is because
of its ability to deliver door to door services forexample when goods arrive at
Entebbe international airport by plane,they are then delivered door to door by road
hence shorter overall lead time.
However disadvantages of road transport are discussed below
Long lead time .this is normally caused by congeston and relatively slow speed of
vehicles for example at times on Entebbe high way vehicles are normally delayed
by congestion on the road hence leading to a long lead time.
Increasesd road accidents,road transpiort is characterized with a lot of accidents
forexample recently it was reported on ntv at 9 that bakukulu coach overturned on
juba-kampala high way killing more than 50 people and injuring many others
It is affected by adverse weather conditions,road transport is affected by adverse
weather conditions like heavy rains which makes some oof the roads impassable for
example most parts of central Africa are normally cut off by heavy rains because
their roads become impassable
Increase legislative controls;there ids a problem of increased legislative control in
Africa for example traffic requirements.
High environmental cost, road transport also affects the environment for example
noise pollution and air pollution.
Railway transport
This is the convergency of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles
running on rails. It is also refered to as train transport (Wikipedia free encyelopedia )
Examples of railway lines include the following Abuja-Kaduna railway line ,East
African railway line among others .
The advantages of railway transport include the following.
High capacity ,making it particularly suitable for bulky items for example most of
the bulky goods from Mombasa are brought to Uganda using railways.

Unit transport cost is low, the cost of transporting gooods using railways is relatively
cheaper than Air transport.
It maintains consistence and reasonably high speed .that is to say that once goods
are loaded the transport between terminals or main centers is fast. This is because
when it sets off then the number of times it stops on the way before reaching the
final destination are limited.
There is safety and security .this is because the containers and wagons used to
transport goods from the one place to another hence protecting the goods from
theft and bad weather for example containers from Mombasa come with a seal
which is supposed to be cut by the owner or the representative to ensure that they
are safe.

Rarely affected by bad weather conditions, railway transport is rarely affected by

bad weather conditions compared to other modes of transport like Air transport for
example it is very rare from conceling a train from setting off as scheduled .
It should be noted therefore that for larger or bulky goods ,rail can prove an active
mode of transport.
However it also has disadvantages as discussed below.
It is inflexible ,that is to say that all train services have to be timetabled in advance
so that all goods can fit on the track . this leaves little flexibility for emergency
deliveries .
It is inefficient for short journeys .train are inefficient for short journeys ,this is
because they do not stop at intermediary points other than specified fixed points.
It requires additional handling cost to and from yards for example when goods are
to be transported by trains ,they have to first be transported from the warehouse
by road that is to say it is to say its not door to door.
It is relatively expensive ,railway transport needs large investment for example
acquisition of tracks ,wagons and construction of rail-lines or terminals.
Limited access to the public, rails are not easily access by the public in Africa
because its in most cases use to transport only goods.
Long leadtime from place oforigin to the final destination.