Navigation solutions powered by Europe Note: * Agreed upon by Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia,

Navigation solutions powered by Europe

Note: * Agreed upon by Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe; ** CIA (only rivers, does not include navigable routes in lakes); *** Includes Mali, Gabon, Angola, Guinea, Ghana, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, The Gambia, Niger, Benin and Togo

29 African countries have navigable waterways that could provide an inexpensive form of transport

They remain however the weakest link in Africa's transport system.

Main constraints are non-harmonized procedures and standards ,Poor safety and security ,Seasonal blockages due to water weeds that often close routes

Several initiatives have been taken to improve the current situation still with small impact on African waterways

EGNOS can provide significant added values for inland waterways:

Integrity and accuracy can support transport management systems

Navigation support services will allow guidance of small ships

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0 k

m

By country

Congo

50.1

Nigeria

Sudan

EgyptCARZambia

Others***

African inland waterways extension** (2008)

III. Details on applications – Inland waterways

10 April 2023 The European GNSS Programmes 1

Africa has many navigable waterways that could support economic development of the continent


• The Congo basin (covering c. 12% of Africa) has up to 25.000 km of navigable waterways, with more than 10.000 boats*and is is pivotal for trade among Central African countries .

• However, several problems plague the basin: • Dredging or beaconing is inadequate all

over the basin (waterways blocked with sand )

• Between Brazzaville / Kinshasa and Bangui navigation is possible only 6-7 months per year .

• Port infrastructure/ equipment is obsolete and it is difficult to access to quays due to silting


Illustration of EGNOS added value :case of the Congo basin

Key issues EGNOS added value

• Nowadays, 95% of CAR’s imports (c. 270€m** per year) transit through the Congo, but navigation to Bangui is blocked for 5-6 months per year.

• EGNOS can support bathymetry surveys to run dredging vessels through the ‘shallow’ areas, to allow all season navigation on the Oubangui (between Bangui and Brazzaville/ Kinshasa.)

• If such a system uses EGNOS and guarantee an efficiency improvement of 10%, then it can be preliminarily estimated that CAR imports could benefit of up to 30€m per year.

• More in general, providing beaconing and enhanced security measures along the waterways would greatly help the development of all the region

Note: * CICOS; ** c. 378$m, CIA Factbook (2011)

III. Details on applications – Inland waterways


Back up slides



Nile river

Length: 6,671 km (1st African river, 2nd on earth). It receives flows from the Blue Nile from Ethiopia

Navigable: The river traverses Uganda, Sudan and Egypt with variable navigability. Navigation is interrupted by the first cataract at Aswan. In Egypt, less than 1% of goods are transported via the Nile river and its canals

Zambezi river

Length: 2,574 km (4th African river)

Navigable: c. 570km (lower stretches from Tete). Navigation studies are considered for its Shire River section that joins Zambezi flowing out of Lake Malawi

Congo river

Length: 4,374 km (2nd African river). It receives flows from the Oubangui and from Sangha that drains Central Africa southwest

Navigable: c. 3,000 km, but Livingstone Alls prevent access from the sea. The transport fleet serving the Congo-Oubangui-Sangha river systems is estimated at 10,000 units

Niger river

Length: 4,184 km (3rd African river). Its main tributary is the Benue River

Navigable: c. 1,000km with small boats; from Koulikoro also with bigger ships. Various projects are underway to improve the navigability. Provision of adequate river ports and places for handling freight is increasingly along its middle section. And efforts are in place to reactivate navigational activities by dredging the Niger and the Benue following the political and economic improvement of its riparian states

Senegal river

Length: 1,790 km (5th African river). Main tributaries are the Faleme, Karakor and the Gorgol rivers

Navigable: c. 500km, from the Atlantic Ocean to Podor, Senegal, all year long, and to Kayes, Mali, during rainy seasons

Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea manage the river basin through the organization pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Senegal (OMVS)

Lake Victoria

Area: Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake (2nd in the world) with an area of 69,000 kmq and a shore-line of 3,500 km, shared between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Navigable: Fully navigable, but the state of navigation aids has been non-functional for a long time, leading to increased fatal accidents. Moreover, the hydrographic survey maps done in 1924 are now obsolete.

There are about 10 ferries and a number of open-decked cargo boats and passenger ships. Uganda railways operates two big ferries, which transport about 400,000 tons annually through Port Bell (Uganda)-Kisumu (Kenya) and 250,000 tons through Port Bell-Mwanza (Tanzania). The passenger ships transports c. 6,000 pax/ day

Lake Tanganyica and lake Malawi

Lake Tanganyika is the 2nd largest lake in Africa with an area of 36,000 kmq that inter-connect DRC, Tanzania, Burundi and Zambia. The operational characteristics are the same as Lake Victoria.

Lake Malawi (3rd largest lake in Africa) is navigable between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Operations on the lake are under the same conditions as in Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika


III. Details on concrete applications - Maritime

Africa has many navigable waterways, with relevant quantities of goods transported ...




Congo river

Strong Navigation limitations 5-6

months per year


Note: * International Navigation Association (formerly, Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses); ** River Information System; *** Automatic Identification SystemSource: ESA

Fairways vary according to adopted navigation control systems PIANC* recommends a fairway 5x the width of the largest

ship when guided by radar PIANC recommends a fairway 2.8x the width of the largest

ship when guided by more precise GNSS navigation systems

AIS*** Position Accuracy (obtained with RIS)

Radar Position Accuracy

Position variable by sensorGPSDGPS (IALA signal)DGPS (local signal)SBAS

Position variable by Speed Distance Weather (rain, waves,..)



With EGNOS, inland waterways traffic can be better managed thanks to RIS** technology implementation

Navigation solutions powered by Europe Note: * Agreed upon by Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia,

Documents

navigable waterways

basin waterways

navigation solutions

african waterways egnos

bangui navigation

applications inland

season navigation

african river