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AFRICA FUELS THE WORLD: How Global Shipping Chaos Is Turning African Ports Into the New Bunkering Powerhouses
AFRICA FUELS THE WORLD: How Global Shipping Chaos Is Turning African Ports Into the New Bunkering Powerhouses
By Okeoghene Onoriobe, Waterways News Correspondent, Lagos
Africa is quietly cashing in on one of the most turbulent periods in modern maritime history.
As security crises continue to paralyse key shipping lanes across the Middle East — from the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the increasingly volatile Strait of Hormuz — global shipping lines are abandoning their traditional routes and making a beeline for African waters. And with every diversion, demand for marine fuel across the continent is surging.
The crisis has been building since late 2023, when Houthi attacks on commercial vessels sent shockwaves through global trade. More recently, U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and fresh disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz have pushed the situation to breaking point, forcing shipping giants Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and CMA CGM to permanently reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope — the long way around Africa — rather than risk the Middle East corridors.
The detour adds days to voyage times and millions to operating costs. But for Africa’s ship-refuelling sector, it is nothing short of a goldmine.
Industry players are reporting a dramatic surge in bunker fuel demand, with major suppliers including Monjasa, Vitol, Peninsula, and Flex Commodities all scrambling to scale up operations along Africa’s coastline to capture the booming traffic.
The numbers are already telling a compelling story. Port Louis in Mauritius has seen bunker fuel sales nearly double in 2024 alone. On the Atlantic side, Namibia’s Walvis Bay and Lüderitz are fast emerging as critical refuelling stops for diverted vessels. In East Africa, Kenya’s Lamu Port — long considered underutilised — is recording a sharp uptick in vessel calls, signalling its growing strategic importance.
Fresh investment is now flowing into bunkering infrastructure, particularly across West and Southern Africa, where suppliers are aggressively expanding capacity in anticipation of what many analysts believe could be a permanent realignment of global shipping patterns.
For Nigeria and its West African neighbours, the opportunity is significant. With the right policy environment and port infrastructure, the region could entrench itself as an indispensable refuelling hub for the world’s largest shipping lines.
But the road to dominance is not without its potholes. Industry stakeholders point to persistent piracy risks, inadequate infrastructure, and tightening fuel supply chains partly linked to reduced Middle Eastern exports. High taxes and regulatory bottlenecks in several African markets are also blunting the continent’s competitive edge at a time when speed and efficiency matter most.
Analysts, however, remain cautiously optimistic. Africa’s geography — straddling the alternative Cape route now preferred by dozens of major carriers — gives it a natural advantage that no policy misstep can entirely erase. The continent, they say, holds the cards. The question is whether governments and investors will move fast enough to play them.
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