Senegal aims to boost its sub-regional trade through maritime cabotage. A type of maritime transport of goods or passengers, cabotage, also known as short sea shipping, is positioned as a solution capable of reducing the costs and time of transporting goods in the West African sub-region while promoting economic growth through the development of under-exploited maritime corridors.

During a sub-regional workshop organized in Dakar, this Thursday, September 25, 2025, by the Senegalese Shippers' Council (Cosec) in the presence of several diplomatic representations and West African partners and beyond, Senegal affirmed its ambition to define with its partners, in the next 18 months, an operational roadmap for the deployment of cabotage lines on strategic corridors including: the Dakar-Praia, Dakar-Agadir, Dakar-Algiers, Dakar-Conakry and Dakar-Banjul axes.

According to Ndeye Rokhaya Thiam, Director General of Cosec, sub-regional cabotage is "an initiative at the heart of our national strategy for regional connectivity and trade growth." "In accordance with Vision Senegal 2050, our country aims to position itself as a leading logistics hub by focusing on a modern and sustainable multimodal transport service. As part of the implementation of this national ambition, the State of Senegal has defined new strategic directions to strengthen maritime trade and regional logistics," she said.

Sub-regional cabotage, she confides, "thus constitutes a pillar that strengthens connectivity between Senegal and its regional partners thanks to regular and reliable links with a reduction in logistics costs and delivery times for goods. In addition, it will stimulate South-South trade within the African Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by fully exploiting the potential of intra-African trade. This boosts our national fleet and encourages private investment in the maritime transport sector."

Furthermore, she adds, "these roads (Dakar-Praia, Dakar-Agadir, Dakar-Algiers, Dakar-Conakry and Dakar-Banjul) constitute strategic axes to diversify and secure our markets, export and import of our products, increase the competitiveness of our sectors on regional and international markets and support economic growth by streamlining trade."

“Africa only represents 3% of global maritime traffic”

However, Mr. Baba Tall, Director General of the Senegalese Consortium of Maritime Activities (Cosama), specifies that this (cabotage) requires, however, "targeted investments: suitable port infrastructure, a competitive fleet, customs facilitation and a suitable regulatory framework."

The challenge is to reverse the current trend of over-reliance on foreign shipping. Despite its immense potential, Africa accounts for only 3% of global maritime traffic. Keen to transform Senegalese and African opportunities into tangible reality, the new authorities aim to take full advantage of its sub-regional partners' more than 5,000 kilometers of coastline, as well as its strategic positioning, to establish itself as a maritime hub in West Africa. This is by building safe, competitive, and integrated corridors capable of boosting the economies of different countries.