The movement of goods in West Africa is plagued with difficulty. The most active area for movement comprises the member countries of UEMOA (West Africa Monetary Union) and Ghana, a trade partner and gateway for neighboring francophone countries. At the time, high logistics costs were caused by oligopolistic behavior, market sharing, tour de role or queuing system, fleet age, transit procedures and costs, transporter and freight forwarder professionalism, among other obstacles to road transport efficiency.

Nathan analyzed the impact of trucking industry liberalization in West Africa on behalf of USAID. Working with the World Bank, we established data gathering methods and deregulation scenarios to guide discussion with national governments.

In the first phase of this project, we reviewed work in the field, developed a methodology for measuring the economic impact of trucking liberalization, and defined a tool to support analysis of influencing factors and reform impacts in the trucking sector. In the second phase, we applied the methodology in the Niamey-Cotonou corridor.