More than 4,000 empty shipping containers are stranded inside Mali as insecurity on the main trade route to Senegal makes transport too dangerous, raising fears of supply disruption and higher prices in a country where most imports pass through the port of Dakar.
The Malian Shippers' Council, a body attached to Mali's transport ministry, this week said the situation has become a major concern for national and regional supply chains.
It warned that empty containers are running dangerously low at the port of Dakar, threatening supplies to Mali and putting pressure on Malian businesses.
The authorities demanded the return of more than 4,000 containers still inside the country, most of them owned by shipping giants MSC and Hapag-Lloyd. It is not clear how long the containers have been blocked.
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RFI contacted the Malian Shippers' Council and the transport ministry for an explanation on why the containers remained blocked, but neither responded.
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Route too dangerous
A Malian entrepreneur, who said he also has containers waiting to be returned to Dakar, told RFI that while the authorities wanted to send a positive signal to shipping companies, "they have no solution to offer".
"We can't find a transporter willing to make the journey," the business owner said - pointing to a rise in jihadist attacks in recent months in the Kayes region near the Senegalese border.
The risk, he said, became brutally clear last Thursday, when at least a dozen truck drivers were killed after their convoy was ambushed, despite being escorted by the army. "You can't force people to take that risk."
He added that empty containers are not escorted on return journeys and warned of the threat posed by homemade mines and the very poor state of the road, which forces trucks to travel slowly and leaves them exposed for longer.
Another Malian business owner said trucks have also been stuck in the capital, Bamako, because of fuel shortages.
The disruption has been linked to an embargo imposed in early September by the jihadist group JNIM, which has been gradually contained by the Malian army but continues to heavily disrupt supplies of petrol and diesel.
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Customs hold-ups
Operators have also complained about delays at customs in Bamako.
"Containers can wait several days before being taken off a truck, then several weeks or even months before all the formalities are completed," one of them told RFI, while also alluding to problems of corruption.
"Angry drivers sometimes just leave without the containers," the man said.
Customs procedures in Bamako have recently been sped up, but only for fuel tankers entering the country, to make fuel distribution easier and limit the impact of the jihadist embargo.
Meanwhile shipping companies are also facing a major financial hit. The price of a new container is around €5,000 - so 4,000 of them unreturned adds up to some €20 million worth of equipment.
Economists say logistics costs are quickly passed on to consumers, who are at risk of being hit hard given that nearly 70 percent of Mali's imports pass through the port of Dakar.
With Ramadan approaching, Mali's transitional authorities have repeatedly said they are working to secure supplies and fight price hikes.
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Two-way street
The current blockage comes just months after tensions flared in the opposite direction. In November, full containers were stuck at the port of Dakar, waiting to be transported to Mali beyond the allowed storage period.
Mali later secured a full cancellation of storage penalties for Malian companies and was granted a three-month deadline to clear the containers. At the time, more than 2,000 were blocked at the port.
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Mali's transport minister, Dembélé Madina Sissoko, travelled to Dakar to plead the country's case. According to the Malian Shippers' Council, only 304 containers are now still waiting at the port.
The council has given their owners until 24 February to collect them, warning that no exemption will be granted after that deadline.
Shipping companies have not spoken publicly on the issue and have allowed Mali's transitional authorities to relay their concerns, raised during a meeting in Dakar on 20 January.
Three months ago, shipping lines CMA CGM and MSC briefly suspended deliveries to Mali, citing insecurity and fuel shortages. The measures were later lifted after talks with Mali's transitional authorities, although the details of those negotiations were not made public.
This story was adapted from the original version in French by David Baché.
