The Railway Transport System And The Integration Of The Inland Container Depot To Reduce Co2 Emissions In Africa.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue II, February 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Railway Transport System and The Integration Of The Inland Container Depot To Reduce Co₂ Emissions In Africa.

Nathaniel Nsen Fuanbial
University of Greenwich London Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences

ABSTRACT
Most of the rail systems in Africa were constructed in the early 20th century by the British colonial powers to facilitate the transportation of military troops into the interior of a country, and the movement of mining and agricultural consignments as well. However as soon as the continent gained its independence, railway links were divided into new national borders. Currently, the transportation industry especially the cargo and passenger transport that amounts for a high level of Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world. Furthermore, air pollution is also on the increase in Sub-Saharan Africa. International organizations and governments have understood the importance of reducing CO2 emissions in developing national economic and energy policies. However, such decrease needs evident know-how of the pattern of CO2 emission and its monitoring as well. More so in all the sectors of a nation, the transportation sector arguably is the sector that emits the most global CO2. Thus, according to the international energy agency (IEA), the industry emitted approximately 23% of global greenhouse gas emission in 2013 which led to the adoption of many climate change regulations. In Africa, the view is that coastal ports are now moving away from the command and control approach of management towards a more decentralized and collaborative approach. The government is not solely in control of the coastal port environmental direction, due to the increasing demand for global best practice in port operations. Using past research carried out and descriptive case studies, the different investigations have tried to forecast the possibility for a modal shift from the road to the railway transport system. The investigations carried out are primarily different in terms of methodology, assumptions, and findings. The literature provided a summary of the studies that have tried to forecast the possibility of a shift from road to rail in coastal port cargo distribution. However, most of the studies were conducted in Europe and America with a few in Africa in the area of freight transportation. The findings revealed a high percentage of modal shift possibility while the descriptive case studies suggested the implementation of the railway system and the integration of the inland container depots for transportation of long-distance cargo from the coastal ports to the hinterland to reduce CO2 emission.

Keywords: Railways, Coastal Ports, inland depot, containers, emissions, environment, transportation, integration, CO2

1 INTRODUCTION

The transportation industry especially the cargo and passenger transport amounts for a high level of Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world. Furthermore, air pollution is also on the increase in Sub-Saharan Africa. This situation is viewed to be caused by the extensive use of fossil fuel in the transport system, especially in the inland transportation system. More so, Africa has maintained low GHG emission in the past, but records have shown the rapid growth of CO2 emissions in the environment [1]. Which can be suggested to be because of increased use of fossil fuel, and a high percentage of reasonably used vehicle imported from developed countries. The inadequate use of the railway system, which arguably emits the lowest level of CO2 in the domestic transport distribution, the continued use of poorly maintained trucks on the road an increased emission from vehicle exhaust, which is estimated to have caused approximately 49000 deaths per year in the region is an issue of concern [1]. More so carbon emission from vehicles and other transport systems are viewed to have direct and indirect effects on the ecosystems, food production, and raw material production [1]. It could be argued, therefore, that global warming solutions can rely on the reduction of carbon emission in the environment. This paper will stress the significance of the ability of coastal ports interior access that can be achieved through the development of technology-driven inland intermodal terminals or inland container depot connect by rail that will enable the cargo handling process to be more seamless and efficient. Thus, motivating the modal shift of cargo volume from the road to more energy efficient transport system(railways) to reduce CO2 emission in the environment. The paper discusses the railway system and inland container depot connected to coastal seaports to reduce CO2 emission in Africa using the literature review and the descriptive case analysis to make conclusions.

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