Reviving Green Inland Water Transport in Africa

Challenge

Recent development of hinterland transport in Africa shows a widely skewed distribution towards road traffic even though road transport is generally considered less environmentally friendly than lake transport. The World Bank commissioned HPC to conduct a study – using the example of Lake Victoria in Tanzania – to demonstrate and inform policy makers of the importance of inland waterway transport and to identify suitable measures for the promotion of such transport.

Tasks Performed

• Assess the transport situation on and around Lake Victoria
• Design and conduct a large-scale data collection program (traffic counts, O/D surveys and industry surveys) at Lake Victoria
• Elaborate a statistical methodology (logit model) to assess the main determinants of mode choice (road transport vs. lake transport) at Lake Victoria
• Assess regulatory and institutional environment for road and lake transport
• Identify policy recommendations to incentivize lake transport
• Review technologies of road and lake transport to calculate fuel consumption and emissions
• Field study to measure actual fuel consumption and emissions at Lake Victoria
• Estimate the potential for emissions savings arising from the promotion of lake transport

Benefit 

• Demonstrate the importance of green logistics in Africa given the risks of climate change
• Assessed policy mechanism to incentivize the use of lake transport
• Hands-on guidelines on how to shape an efficient and low-emission transport sector in the Lake Victoria region