(DTIS) Update, Volume 1 – Main report - Enhanced Integrated ...

logistics services, while the other three dimensions are a reflection of the quality of the resultant system.Landlocked countries like Burundi, which rely on external service providers, may also have little controlover the quality of those services. Still, a country is in a better position to engage with its coastalneighbors if it has a clear logistics improvement strategy.Figure 5.1: Burundi's logisticsperformance relative to regionalpartners (2012)Figure 5.2: Burundi's logisticsperformance, 2012 relative to 2007Customs3LPI Score5TimelinessTrackingand Tracing210InfrastructureInternationalShipmentsTimelinessTrackingand TracingLogisticsquality2.50CustomsInternationalShipmentsInfrastructureTanzaniaRwandaLogisticsqualityKenyaBurundi2012 2007Source: World Bank, Logistics Perfomance Index(2012)Empirical evidence shows that landlocked countries like Burundi face many challenges to accessoverseas markets. These countries are separated by long distances from seaports in neighboringcountries which increase, transit times and generally expose them to reduced reliability of their supplychains. Typically, such countries have to rely on service providers in neighboring countries to handleshipments through seaports, provide shipping, road, rail, clearing and forwarding services, as well aswarehousing for storage of goods in transit. Shippers in countries such as Burundi therefore havereduced control over the movement of their international trade traffic.However, even under these circumstances, it is still possible for landlocked countries to takeproactive policies to improve the performance of their logistics systems. Different landlockedcountries, both low and high income, demonstrate that through innovative approaches and closeintegration with their neighbors, they can have logistics performances that are not very different fromthat of their coastal neighbors. Rwanda is an example of a country that is very similar to Burundi invarious aspects, especially in terms of geographical location and reliance on the same regional logisticsinfrastructure and systems in East Africa. Rwanda has over the past few years developed a far reachinglogistics strategy and made reforms in customs among other areas. As a result, Rwanda’s logisticsperformance as measured by the LPI is much higher than Burundi’s and comparable to that of othercountries in East Africa: Rwanda’s score on the 2012 LPI is 2.27, which represents 41% of the highestperformer’s score (compared to 20% for Burundi).Trade facilitation and logistics in Burundi has two main characteristics that impact on costs and areimportant to the identification of feasible options for improvement. These are the size of shipments atboth domestic and international levels, and the balance between import and export volumes. The twocharacteristics are elaborated upon below.92 / 153