News / Europe-Africa trade: more one-way traffic these days

Roles have reversed, as far as volumes are concerned, between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with the latter’s positive start to 2026 nosediving over the past three months, while Europe-SSA volumes turned a disastrous start in buoyant growth.

According to Container Trades Statistics (CTS), a 25% year-on-year bump in January volumes for SSA-Europe flows was followed by declines of 0.2% and 1.9% in February and March, with sources telling The Loadstar April is not looking good either.

Against this weakening trade, Europe-SSA volumes flipped a 10.3% decline for January volumes into growth of 6.1% for February and a 9% year-on-year bump in March as the lane surpassed 200,000 teu for only the second time in 15 months.

This was reflected in rate data from Freightos, which showed a series of spikes, each stronger than the last, between 23 February and 22 May, peaking on 18 May at just shy of $6,700 per feu for Rotterdam-Durban sailings.

One source said South African “trade in general is not looking good at the moment, with trade in April significantly down”, although there appears to be bright spots for those less focused on European volumes.

A forwarder told The Loadstar that, while they had not done much with Europe in recent times, otherwise, “honestly, had a very good April”, noting overall April volumes had climbed about 12%, year on year.

They added: “The majority of our trade remains with the Middle East (which has its challenges), India, the Far East, and South America, and this has been the same for the past two to three years.”

It continues a theme that, despite Europe being Africa’s strongest trading partner, with its exports to Africa now exceeding €55bn, African exporters are looking elsewhere to sell their wares.

Forwarders told The Loadstar that, even with the uptick for Europe-SSA volumes, there had been a notable drop-off in enquiries they were receiving in both directions, compared with in previous years.