Abstract
Maritime transport significantly affects all aspects of international trade globally. Following this, it is vital to empirically understand the influence of maritime transport logistics on intra-African trade performance. This paper investigates the impact of maritime transport logistics on intra-African trade performance within the framework of the gravity model. Data on 32 African countries for the period 2010–2018 is used while the Poison Pseudo Maximum Likelihood estimation technique is employed for the analysis. The results reveal that maritime transports enhance intra-African trade performance; greater access to maritime transports is associated with an increase in intra-African trade performance. Based on this result, it is recommended that policies that increase maritime transport logistics are what policymakers should prioritize and pursue in the quest to increase the performance of trade in African countries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Notes
Readers should refer to Cheong and Tang (2015) on further reading on how multilateral resistance term is constructed.
As seen in Tables A2-A3, the results are not statistically different to the one reported in Tables 2–3 when the lag value of GDP is used. All the results Tables show that maritime transport logistics (liner shipping connectivity index and liner shipping bilateral connectivity index) has a significant positive effect on intra-African trade performance.
References
AfDB. (2018). Maritime Transport in Africa: Overview and Opportunities. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/2018ATLAS%20-%20Transport%20volume.pdf.
Afesorgbor SK (2017) Revisiting the effect of regional integration on African trade: evidence from meta-analysis and gravity model. J Int Trade Econ Dev 26(2):133–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638199.2016.1219381
African Union. (2019). Decision on the First African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible For Maritime Transport–Doc. EX. CL/349 (XI). https://archives.au.int/handle/123456789/2974.
Anderson JE, Van Wincoop E (2003) Gravity with gravitas: a solution to the border puzzle. Am Econ Rev 93(1):170–192. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282803321455214
Ayesu EK, Sakyi D, Arthur E, Osei-Fosu AK (2022) The impact of trade on African welfare: does seaport efficiency channel matter? Res Glob 5:100098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resglo.2022.100098
Blonigen BA, Wilson WW (2008) Port efficiency and trade flows. Rev Int Econ 16(1):21–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9396.2007.00723.x
Bobková, B., 2012. Gravity model estimation using panel data-is logarithmic transformation advisable?. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/47004.
Çelebi D (2019) The role of logistics performance in promoting trade. Marit Econ Logist 23(3):307–323. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41278-017-0094-4
CEPII. 2022. “Research and Expertise on World Economy. Gravity dataset for all world pairs of countries.” http: http://www.cepii.fr/cepii/en/bdd_modele/bdd.asp.
Chang SM, Huang YY, Shang KC, Chiang WT (2020) Impacts of regional integration and maritime transport on trade: with special reference to RCEP”. Marit Bus Rev 5(2):143–158. https://doi.org/10.1108/MABR-03-2020-0013
Chang YT, Jo A, Choi KS, Lee S (2021) Port efficiency and international trade in China”. Transp Transp Sci 17(4):801–823. https://doi.org/10.1080/23249935.2020.1817169
Cheong J, Tang KK (2015) Heterogeneous effects of preferential trade agreements: How does similarity matter? World Dev 66:222–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.08.021
Clark X, Dollar D, Micco A (2004) Port efficiency, maritime transport costs, and Bilateral trade. J Dev Econ 75(2):417–450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2004.06.005
De Oliveira GF, Cariou P (2011) A DEA study of the efficiency of 122 iron ore and coal ports and of 15/17 countries in 2005. Marit Pol Manage 38(7):727–743. https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2011.625989
Djankov S, Freund C, Pham CS (2010) Trading on time. Rev Econ Stat 92(1):166–173. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest.2009.11498
Dollar D, Kraay A (2004) Trade, growth, and poverty. Econ J 114(493):F22–F49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0013-0133.2004.00186.x
Erdogan O, Cetin O. (2021). The effects of maritime transport on the Turkish economy. Available at SSRN 3880804. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3880804.
Fugazza M, Hoffmann J, Razafinombana R. (2013). Building a dataset for bilateral maritime connectivity (Vol. 61). New York, NY, USA: UN. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-/itcdtab63_en.pdf.
Fugazza M, Hoffmann J (2017) Liner shipping connectivity as determinant of trade. J Shipp Trd 2(1):1–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41072-017-0019-5
Gani A (2017) The logistics performance effect in international trade. Asian J Shipp Logist 33(4):279–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajsl.2017.12.012
Herzer D (2013) Cross-country heterogeneity and the trade-income relationship. World Dev 44:194–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.09.014
Hoffmann J, Saeed N, Sødal S (2020) Liner shipping bilateral connectivity and its impact on South Africa’s bilateral trade flows. Marit Econ Logist 22(3):473–499. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41278-019-00124-8
Kosowska-Stamirowska Z (2020) Network effects govern the evolution of maritime trade. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117(23):12719–12728. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.190667011
Krugman PR (1979) Increasing returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade”. J Int Econ 9(4):469–479
Larch M, Monteiro JA, Piermartini R, Yotov YV (2019) On the effects of GATT/WTO membership on trade: they are positive and large after all. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3421148
Lin PC, Kuo SY, Chang JH (2020) The direct and spillover effects of liner shipping connectivity on merchandise trade. Marit Bus Rev 5(2):159–173. https://doi.org/10.1108/MABR-12-2019-0055
Marshall MG, Marshall DR. 2021. “Coup d’Etat Events, 1946–2019. Center for Systemic Peace, Codebook and Data [Internet].” http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscrdata.html.
Martínez-Zarzoso I (2013) The log of gravity revisited. Appl Econ 45(3):311–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2011.599786
Matekenya W, Ncwadi R (2022) The impact of maritime transport financing on total trade in South Africa. J Shipp Trd 7(1):1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41072-022-00106-9
Melitz MJ (2003) The impact of trade on intra-industry reallocations and aggregate industry productivity. Econometrica 71(6):1695–1725. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0262.00467
Mlambo C (2021) the impact of port performance on trade: The Case of Selected African States. Economies 9(4):135. https://doi.org/10.3390/economies9040135
Portugal-Perez A, Wilson JS. (2010). Export performance and trade facilitation reform. Policy research working paper, 5261. https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/gtdw_e/wkshop09_e/portugal_e.pdf
Saeed N, Cullinane K, Sødal S (2021) Exploring the relationships between maritime connectivity, international trade, and domestic production. Marit Policy Manag 48(4):497–511. https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2020.1802783
Sakyi D, Afesorgbor SK (2019) The effects of trade facilitation on trade performance in Africa. J Afr Trd 6(1–2):1–15. https://doi.org/10.2991/jat.k.191129.001
Sakyi D, Immurana M (2021) Seaport efficiency and the trade balance in Africa. Marit Transp Res 2:100026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.martra.2021.100026
Sénquiz-Díaz C (2021a) Transport infrastructure quality and logistics performance in exports. Economics 9(1):107–124. https://doi.org/10.14456/ajmi.2020.10
Sénquiz-Díaz C (2021b) The effect of transport and logistics on trade facilitation and trade: a PLS-SEM approach. Economics 9(2):11–24. https://doi.org/10.2478/eoik-2021-0021
Sénquiz-Díaz CI. (2021c). Trade facilitation and logistics: A management interface for government and business (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Ana G Méndez-Gurabo). https://www.proquest.com/docview/2673369188?pqorigsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true.
Silva JS, Tenreyro S (2006) The log of gravity. Rev Econ Stat 88(4):641–658. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest.88.4.641
Tinbergen J (1962) Shaping the world economy; suggestions for an international economic policy. Econ J. https://doi.org/10.2307/2229041
Töngür Ü, Türkcan K, Ekmen-Özçelik S (2020) Logistics performance and export variety: evidence from Turkey. Central Bank Review 20(3):143–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbrev.2020.04.002
UNCTAD (2018) Review of Maritime Transport. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/rmt2018_en.pdf.
UNCTAD (2019) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Database. UNCTAD, Geneva. https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/.
UNCTAD (2020) Review of Maritime Transport 2020. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/rmt2020_en.pdf.
UNCTAD (2022) Review of Maritime Transport 2020. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/rmt2020_en.pdf
UNECA (2019) Sustainable Blue Economy: Opportunities for Africa. Retrieved from https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/ae2019b-ebf_fullreport.pdf
Valentine VF, Benamara H, Hoffmann J (2013) Maritime transport and international seaborne trade. Marit Policy Manage 40(3):226–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2013.782964
Vavrek Š, (2018). Estimation methods of gravity models. Int Econ 40:23–39. https://is.muni.cz/th/gsbak/estimation-methods-gravity__7_.pdf
World Bank. (2017). Africa’s Ports: A Gateway to Development. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/27449/117100-WP-P160796-PUBLIC-ADD-SERIES-AfricaPortsWeb.pdf
Yu M (2010) Trade, democracy, and the gravity equation. J Dev Econ 91(2):289–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2009.07.004
Yu Z, Luu B (2020) The impact of trade facilitation on Vietnam’s trade flows. ASEAN J Manage Innov 7(1):133–153. https://doi.org/10.14456/ajmi.2020.10
Acknowledgements
Not applicable.
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding institution.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Writing draft, editing, and all manuscript preparation are made by the corresponding author.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
No potential conflict of interest is reported by the author.
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Informed consent
This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Ayesu, E.K. Boosting intra-African trade performance: the role of maritime transport logistics. SN Bus Econ 3, 150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-023-00529-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-023-00529-x