Insecurity along Sudan’s roads has taken a toll on the country’s trucking industry. According to an assessment conducted by the United Nations Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC) in Sudan, two out of nine land transport companies surveyed had discontinued their services to Darfur in 2008 due to increasing banditry and carjacking.
The Sudanese government recently inaugurated armed escorts to accompany truck drivers on their journey to Darfur. However, drivers sometimes wait for up to a week for the convoys to leave from the town of Wad Bandah on the road linking Al Fashir in North Darfur State with Khartoum. Because of these delays the overland trip from Khartoum to Darfur can sometimes require up to twenty days to complete. According to representatives of the Musa Fadl-Elseed Transport Company, “when long delays are encountered while waiting for government escort, perishable goods in transport are simply dumped.”
Despite these delays, Hawari Transport and Development Company in Omdurman has prohibited its drivers from traveling unescorted to Darfur. The company lost six fully loaded trucks to banditry this year and according to Yoines Ahmed Yoines, the company’s chairman, Hawari Transport may stop service to Darfur altogether if the security situation on the region’s roads does not improve soon.
Transport costs
Primarily as a result of ongoing insecurity, the cost of transporting goods from Khartoum to Darfur increased 10% during the 12-month period between January 2007 and January 2008. The UNJLC predicts that the cost will increase another 15-18% by January 2009, far more than Sudan’s annual rate of inflation of 5%.
The transportation of goods overland from Khartoum to the south of Sudan is hampered not by insecurity, but rather by mines, floods and poor roads. Although the main north-south routes remain open between July and November, when much of southern Sudan is inundated by floods, smaller roads become completely inaccessible. According to the United Nations, trucks weighing as much as 17 tons more than the recommended weight limit of 5 tons routinely travel along the South’s main highways, further damaging the country’s already fragile transportation infrastructure.
Insecurity and poor overland transportation routes have made air freight the only means of transporting goods quickly, reliably and safely within Sudan. Captain Adil A. Mufti of Swissport estimates that approximately 80% of goods are currently transported within the country by air freight. The constant demand for air freight services coupled with relatively simple procedures for registering an air freight company has resulted in a rapid increase in both the number and capacity of air transport companies in the country. Juba Air Cargo, which was established in 1996 and initially operated only eight flights per month to Juba using leased aircraft, now operates approximately 20 flights a month using its own fleet.
Privately, however, representatives of some of Sudan’s commercial air cargo companies complain that the government of Sudan is crippling the country’s air freight industry. They assert that appointments to key positions at Khartoum International Airport, Sudan Airways and the Civil Aviation Corporation are made not based on merit, but in order to preserve links between these institutions and the country’s military and security establishments.
In-flight turbulence
Industry insiders also accuse Sudan’s Civil Aviation Corporation (CAC) of consistently and indiscriminately raising operating fees without considering the potential impact of these increases on the industry overall. Moreover, they claim that when CAC approves increases in landing, navigation and license fees for privately owned air freight companies, these same increases are not always applied to government-owned operators such as Sudan Airways. Many operators also fear that the opening of a new international airport in Khartoum in 2009 will translate into higher airport fees and yet another substantial increase in the cost of doing business.
Increasing fuel prices are also negatively effecting businesses’ bottom line. The price of A-1 jet fuel, which is set by Sudan’s ministry of energy and mining, has been steadily increasing in recent years. Just two months ago, the price of jet fuel in Khartoum jumped 100% to almost $5 per imperial gallon. In Juba, the cost of fuel is even higher. Approximately 3,000 tons of A-1 fuel are consumed daily by planes operating out of Khartoum International Airport and, although almost all jet fuel used within Sudan is now domestically produced, air freight companies complain that fuel prices were lower when the country was more reliant on imports for its supply.
In Sudan there are no organizations with the capacity or membership to demand a more consultative process between air cargo operators and government representatives on decisions that directly impact the growth of the country’s air freight industry. For now, Sudan’s air cargo companies have no choice but to pass on the increasing costs of doing business to their customers. Air freight companies recently raised the price of transporting goods from Khartoum to Darfur from SDG2.50 ($1.14) to SDG3.50 ($1.60) per kilogram, not including VAT. Despite these price increases, however, air cargo companies are not reporting any reduction in the demand for air freight services. Those businesses and international humanitarian agencies that need to transport goods safely and quickly within Sudan have no alternative.
