Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have registered as gateway countries with freight loyalty programme World Logistics Passport (WLP).
This is expected to reduce supply chain costs and improve speed to market for exports and imports from these countries, WLP CEO Mike Bhaskaran said on June 2.
With countries looking to build back global trade volumes, WLP supports traders and freight forwarders. WLP notes that countries can expect to achieve a yearly average increase of 5% to 10% in trade volumes.
WLP is designed to boost global trade and enhance the efficiency and resilience of global supply chains.
“WLP can support these economies to grow and create jobs by enhancing their export competitiveness and the productivity of their national transport and logistics sectors.
"More efficient supply chains will make their products more competitive, open up access to new markets and trade routes and increase their national economic resilience,” Bhaskaran said.
Countries that are part of the WLP network are classified in one of two categories, namely gateways and hubs.
Gateways are regional contributors to freight trade and have preferential access to the nearest hub country. There are, at present, two hub countries in Africa, namely Senegal and South Africa.
Gateway countries are represented in the WLP network by the freight forward association or chambers of commerce.