IAPH is supporting an initiative of the World Bank to perform a diagnosis of the status of digitalisation in the maritime transport chain of the Africa region. The objective of this diagnosis is to identify the kind of support African countries and ports require to meet the IMO requirement to establish a maritime single window in all member states by no later than January 2024. The additional aim is to identify concrete actions to close the digital gaps between advanced and less developed ports in African countries to ensure no nation is left isolated from improved trade facilitation opportunities that digitalisation has the potential to create. The project is endorsed by the African Union. African port members are invited to participate in the exercise, which has the full backing of IAPH vice-president Michael Luguje and the regional African port associations PMAWCA, PMAESA and AUPNA. An invitation-based online kick-off meeting will be held on 30 March, with invitations distributed through the regional port associations.
