On the sidelines of the PMAESA Ports and Maritime Investment Forum and Exhibition 2026 in Dar es Salaam, the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa took a quietly consequential step. It established the PMAESA Ports Statisticians Network and elected Vukani Nkasa, Chief Economist at Transnet National Ports Authority of South Africa, as its first Chairperson. Tanzania Ports Authority and Mauritius Ports Authority serve as first and second vice-chairs, with participation from Mozambique, Namibia, Madagascar, and Kenya.
This is not bureaucratic housekeeping. It is a recognition that Africa’s ports can no longer afford fragmented, non-comparable, and often unreliable statistics in a data-driven global maritime economy. Ports handle the overwhelming majority of the continent’s external trade. Without standardized, validated, and usable data, evidence-based investment, operational efficiency, corridor performance measurement, and regional integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) remain aspirational rather than operational.
The Data Deficit Is Structural, Not Incidental
African ports have long suffered from irregular updates, incomplete geographic coverage, inconsistent definitions, and weak auditability. Different ports measure dwell times, berth productivity, throughput, and hinterland connectivity differently—or not at all. Manual processes, siloed agency systems, and limited capacity compound the problem. The result is distorted performance assessments, higher perceived risk for investors, elevated cost of capital, and missed opportunities to identify bottlenecks or prioritize scarce resources.
Continental efforts, notably the African Development Bank’s African Ports Connectivity Portal Project (APC-PP), are already tackling this at scale. The project aims to harmonize key performance indicators across dozens of ports, produce an African Port Data Book, and develop an African Port Index aligned with international standards such as those from UNCTAD. Regional associations including PMAESA, PMAWCA, and UAPNA are central partners. Capacity-building workshops for statisticians, data validation exercises, and the push toward interoperable platforms reflect a growing consensus: reliable, comparable data is a prerequisite for competitiveness, not a luxury.
The new PMAESA network complements and strengthens this architecture at the eastern and southern regional level. By focusing on standardization, validation, and practical use of port statistics among its members, it creates a technical collaboration platform that can feed higher-quality data upward into continental systems while delivering immediate value to national port authorities, corridor managers, and policymakers.
Why This Matters Now
Global shipping and logistics are intensifying their reliance on real-time and historical data for scheduling, capacity planning, risk assessment, and sustainability reporting. Investors and development finance institutions increasingly demand auditable performance metrics before committing capital to berth expansions, digital systems, or green transitions. Logistics cost savings of 20–30 percent on certain corridors have been cited as realistic once data enables better anticipation of congestion, optimized flows, and credible risk analysis.
For landlocked countries that depend on coastal gateways, comparable statistics are essential to hold corridor operators accountable and to negotiate more efficient transit regimes. For coastal states competing for transshipment and gateway traffic, transparent performance data is both a marketing and credibility tool. For the region as a whole, it supports the shift from isolated national ports to networked systems capable of supporting AfCFTA trade volumes.
PMAESA itself was founded in 1973 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa precisely to foster information exchange, best practices, and regional cooperation among port and maritime stakeholders. Its strategic plans have long flagged the collection and dissemination of member port statistics and performance indicators as core functions. The Statisticians Network operationalizes that mandate with clearer leadership, terms of reference, and a work plan focused on implementation rather than aspiration.
Leadership and Practical Next Steps
Nkasa’s election, and the composition of the leadership team, signal seriousness. Transnet National Ports Authority brings substantial analytical capacity and experience managing a complex multi-port system. Pairing it with Tanzanian and Mauritian counterparts, and drawing in other key authorities, creates a workable core group. The immediate priorities Nkasa has highlighted—refining terms of reference, developing a practical work plan, and generating actionable ideas—are exactly right.
Success will depend on consistent participation, agreed definitions and methodologies, quality assurance processes, capacity support for less-resourced members, and a culture that treats data as a shared regional asset rather than proprietary national information.
Challenges remain real: varying levels of digital maturity, resource constraints, institutional inertia, and the perennial tension between data sharing and commercial or sovereignty concerns. Cybersecurity and data governance frameworks will also need attention as systems become more interconnected. These are solvable through sustained political and technical commitment, partnership with continental initiatives such as the APC-PP, and measured use of technology that prioritizes interoperability and local ownership.
A Broader Cultural Shift
The deeper significance of the network is cultural. It moves the conversation from celebrating individual port projects or anecdotal efficiency gains toward systematic, comparable measurement. It treats statisticians and data analysts as strategic actors rather than back-office functionaries. And it aligns regional port management with the global shift toward evidence-based, digital, and performance-oriented maritime operations.
Africa’s ports are expanding capacity, digitizing processes, and positioning themselves for blue-economy and AfCFTA opportunities. Without a solid statistical foundation, much of that investment risks being suboptimal or poorly sequenced. With it, the region can identify true best performers, diagnose systemic constraints, attract better-priced capital, and build the credible performance narratives that shipping lines, cargo owners, and financiers require.
The establishment of the PMAESA Ports Statisticians Network is therefore more than an organizational milestone. It is a necessary step toward treating data with the same seriousness that ports treat berth availability, channel depth, and crane productivity. If the network delivers on its mandate—standardizing, validating, and activating the use of port statistics—it will strengthen not only individual ports but the connective tissue of regional trade. In a maritime world that increasingly runs on information, that is a competitive advantage Africa cannot afford to forgo.
The work now begins in earnest. The election in Dar es Salaam is the starting gun, not the finish line.
Andrew Mwangura is a maritime safety and security analyst based in Mombasa, Kenya.