the challenges facing landlocked developing countries: a case study ...

1.2. OBSERVATIONS FROM THE CASE
STUDIES
This section outlines observations from the case studies across four dimensions:
infrastructure of transit neighbors; political relations with transit neighbors, vulnerability to
civil conflict in transit neighbors; and administrative burdens encountered when shipping
through transit neighbors. Least affected areas are also indicated under each category, as are
successful strategies for overcoming the respective dimensions of landlockedness.
1.2.1. DEPENDENCE UPON INFRASTRUCTURE OF TRANSIT COUNTRIES
Landlocked countries are completely dependent on their transit neighbors’ transport
infrastructure to transport their goods to port. The process of shipping goods through a transit
country is complex, requiring combinations of roads, rail, trucks, trains, ports, warehouses,
containers and pipelines, and more general infrastructure such as telephones, banks and post.
Given this complexity, it is not surprising that some countries are more affected by transit
infrastructure problems than others.
Worst Affected Areas
The challenges confronted by poor transit neighbor infrastructure are acute in eastern Africa.
Burundi, for example, boasts a relatively good internal road network but is severely
constrained by the surrounding infrastructure of its transit neighbors. The most direct route to
the sea from Burundi is through Tanzania to Dar es Salaam, known as the Central Corridor,
but infrastructure levels on this route are so poor that Burundi’s primary transit route still
follows the more distant path to Mombasa, known as the Northern Corridor. Reflecting the
severity of Burundi’s transport challenges, the Central Corridor is not even a great second
alternative when to the Northern Corridor. When the latter was closed due to political
reasons, an alternative transit route was investigated, and used, to Durban via Mpulungu on
Lake Tanganyika. The fact that this route was even considered, at a total distance of nearly
4,500km with several border crossings and modal changes, highlights the transit challenges
faced by Burundi, already one of the world’s poorest countries.
Similar transit neighbor infrastructure problems exist for western African landlocked
countries. Consider the Central African Republic, which does not have a dependable allweather
route to the sea. Its corridor through Cameroon is often impassable during the rainy
season, owing to the poor condition of Cameroonian roads. Its only other corridor, through
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), travels on the Oubangui River, which is
impassable during the dry season due to low water levels. Furthermore, this corridor is
currently impassable due to the ongoing crisis in the DRC. Therefore, any domestic
infrastructure investments will have limited returns.
Least Affected Areas and Successful Strategies
In contrast to the African landlocked countries, the landlocked countries of south and
southeast Asia and South America are surrounded by relatively high quality transport
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