Bunkering in West Africa: The Case of Dakar

The academic literature has analysed the expansion of steamship navigation services in West Africa in depth (Davies, 2000; Leubuscher, 1963; Lynn, 1989). In comparative terms, recent investigations have found compelling evidence of this technology being introduced and diffused along the African Atlantic Façade relatively early compared to other maritime regions around the globe (Ducruet & Itoh, 2022; Kaukiainen, 2012). This fact presents a counterintuitive assumption related to the limited degree of development of West African port facilities from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards (Hoyle & Hilling, 1970; Saupin, 2020). The transformation of the maritime industry during the second wave of the industrial revolution increased the demand for port facilities and specialized port services (Harlaftis et al., 2012; Marnot, 2020). The growth of port activity and the external economies they generated required important capital investments (Marnot, 2015, 2020). Public institutions therefore played a major role in fostering the massive investments required for dredging, erection of wharves, and the construction of basic port infrastructure. This transformation process was associated with the first global port reform (Marnot, 2020; Miller, 2012). Nevertheless, the improvement of port facilities and other transport infrastructure was hampered by the structural fiscal weakness of the African colonial state (Castillo & Ducruet, 2020; Frankema & Booth, 2019; Hoyle & Hilling, 1970; Oliete & Magrynyà, 2018; Olukoju, 2004). Investments in port facilities in West Africa during the second half of the nineteenth century were quite limited in overall terms. Until the turn of the twentieth century, most West African seaports remained underdeveloped, and in most cases, port operations continued through lightering services (Saupin, 2020). This is the case for coal bunkering services in the major stopover seaports of the West African façade.