China’s Growing Engagement in the Emerging Maritime Logistics Market in Africa

China’s engagement in the transportation infrastructure and energy sector in Africa and South America has grown dramatically over the last two decades. Chinese companies, both state-owned and private, along with influxes of Chinese workers and capital, have spread throughout Africa (Shinn and Eisenman, 2012). In March 2013, China invested USD 10 billion into the construction of a port in East Africa, with the aim of strengthening economic relations with Tanzania and landlocked countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. In addition, in May 2014, China concluded a USD 13.1 billion investment in Nigeria for a high-speed coastal railway (1,385 kilometer of single-track line). These investments reveal the fact that as a new lender and investor China is becoming a “locomotive” developing the African economy. Indeed, China pledged to more than triple aid to Africa during the period 2006-2014. In line with economic ties with Africa, visits by President Xi Jinping in March 2013 and Premier Li Keqiang in May 2014 have increased China’s political influence in Sino-African relations, demonstrating that international trade and international politics go hand in hand.