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In the last two decades new emphasis has been given to the economic impact of geography, especially on the cost of being landlocked. From a development perspective, understanding the cost of being landlocked and its economic impact is critical, since one country of four in the world is landlocked (almost one out of three in Sub-Saharan Africa). Attempts to address the cost of being landlocked have mainly focused on regional and multilateral conventions aiming at ensuring freedom of transit, and on the development of regional transport infrastructure. The success of these measures has been limited, and many massive investments in infrastructure seem to have had a disappointing impact on landlocked economies. Although there may still be an infrastructure gap, this book, based on extensive data collection in several regions of the world, argues that logistics and trade services efficiency can be more important for landlocked countries than investing massively in infrastructure. Logistics have become increasingly complex and critical for firms' competitiveness, and a weakness in this field can badly hurt firms based in landlocked countries. This book proposes a revised approach to tackling the cost of being landlocked and a new analytical framework which uses a microeconomic approach to assess the trade and macroeconomic impacts of logistics. It takes into account recent findings on the importance of logistics chain uncertainty and inventory control in firms' performance. It argues that: (i) exporters and importers in landlocked developing countries face high logistics costs, which are highly detrimental to their competitiveness in world markets, (ii) high logistics costs depend on low logistics reliability and predictability, and (iii) low logistics reliability and predictability result mostly from rent-seeking and governance issues (prone to proliferate in low volume environments).

According to economic theory, imbalances in trade flows affect transport prices, because (some) carriers have to return without cargo from the low-demand region to the high-demand region. Therefore, transport prices in the high-demand direction have to exceed those in the low-demand direction. This implies that transport costs, and therefore trade costs, are fundamentally endogenous with respect to trade imbalances. We study the effect of an imbalance in trade flows on transport prices using micro-data on trips made by carriers in the inland waterway network in North West Europe. We find that imbalances in trade flows have substantial effects on transport prices. We estimate that a one standard deviation increase in the region's trade imbalance (the ratio of export and import cargo flows) increases the transport price per tonne of trips departing from this region by about 7%.

The importance of transport corridors for trade and development, including for some of the poorest countries in the world, is widely recognized in this book. A new consensus has also emerged that reducing trade costs and improving access to corridors is not just a matter of building infrastructure. The policies that regulate transport services providers and the movement of goods along corridors are important determinants of the social rate of return on such infrastructure investment. This book avoids optimistic assumptions regarding the prospects for new high-level agreements and decisions to facilitate transit or the possible benefits from increased use of technology. Instead, the authors argue that much can be done through the implementation of readily available existing tools. The use of these tools is often hampered by not only capacity constraints; but, equally if not more important, a lack of commitment. Political economic factors in both the landlocked countries and their transit neighbors must be recognized and addressed. This book offers examples of possible implementation strategies that, while challenging, should in principle help in overcoming these political economic constraints. The main message is that to bring about efficient trade corridors governments and stakeholders should focus on properly implementing the fiscal, regulatory, and procedural principles for international transit that encourage quality-driven logistics services. The various implementation challenges are the primary focus of this book.

Niu, X., 2019. Impact of coastal railway transportation decisions on public welfare. In: Li, L.; Wan, X.; and Huang, X. (eds.), Recent Developments in Practices and Research on Coastal Regions: Transportation, Environment and Economy. Journal of Coastal Research Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 98, pp. 284–289. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. China's coastal railway public welfare compensation mechanism should establish and improve the freight rate formation mechanism. Under the current relative price level, it is not feasible to completely correct the price distortion through compensation, and the freight rate formation mechanism is not in line with the industry characteristics of coastal railway as a quasi-public product. Government purchase services should be based on prices that are consistent with market rules. If there is no price reflecting the relationship between supply and demand in the market, the government has no reference standard for compensation for coastal railway transportation companies. This article will study the formation mechanism of material transportation price when the government and coastal railway transportation enterprises are equal. Research finds that centralized decision-making can increase the total revenue of the government and coastal railway transportation companies, and the order quantity of centralized decision-making is larger than that of the scattered orders; the transportation company still provides transportation services to the government according to the original wholesale price. When an order is placed according to the optimal order quantity for centralized decision-making, the government's revenue will decrease, and the coastal railway transportation company's income will increase. At this time, the government will not participate. This article focuses on decision-making. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new allocation mechanism to induce the government to choose the optimal order quantity for centralized decision-making.

The objective of the study is to examine, identify, and quantify the factors behind Africa's high prices for road transport. Such prices are a major obstacle to economic growth in the region, as shown in several studies. For example, Amjadi and Yeats (1995) concluded that transport costs in Africa were a higher trade barrier than were import tariffs and trade restrictions. Other analyses by the World Bank (2007a) demonstrated that Africa's transport prices were high compared to the value of the goods transported and that transport predictability and reliability were low by international standards. This study's findings should help policy makers take actions that will reduce transport costs to domestic and international trade.

Small scale producers in developing countries lack easy access to efficient logistics services. They are faced with long distances from both domestic and international markets. Unless they consolidate their trade volumes they face high costs which diminish their ability to trade. However, the process of consolidation is not without cost nor does it occur on its own accord. As a result, the consolidation is typically handled by intermediaries. Using case studies of sisal and soybean supply chains in Brazil and India respectively, this study explores the role and impact of intermediaries in facilitating trade in lagging regions. The study assesses the horizontal relationships between the small scale producers in thin markets and the vertical connections between different tiers of the same supply chain. The study analyzes the traditional approach to linking producers namely through cooperatives and itinerant traders and the relatively newer innovations using ICT. The study finds that farmers linked through the different mechanisms are more integrated to international supply chains or are able to better manage supply chains longer than would otherwise be the case. Intermediaries play several roles including providing transport services and facilitating market exchanges, payments, risk sharing and quality improvements. Generally, information technology driven innovations make it easier to integrate adjacent steps in the value chain. This report on logistics performance at the sub-national level is an on-going endeavour. Similar analysis is being carried out in some countries in Africa to identify the evolving role of intermediaries in low income regions. The results will be developed into a major publication on this topic, with recommendations on how development agencies, civil society and the private sector can improve the design of strategies to reduce logistics costs in low income areas.

Abstract Purpose In the last two decades, different policy initiatives have been set up to increase the share of intermodal freight transport through a modal shift. In the design of these policies, often critical break-even distances are set, showing the cost or price competitiveness of intermodal transport to delineate transport routes that qualify for such a modal shift. In this chapter, we discuss to which extent such break-even distances can be generalized on a larger scale and how they are calculated. Methodology We use two price-based models to calculate break-even distances for an intermodal rail and an intermodal barge transport case. General break-even values do not show the price variation in the transport market and vagueness in the calculation of these values adds to this problem. Findings We find that for the inland waterway case, intermodal barge transport shows potential on shorter distances as well. In addition, different ways to lower the break-even distance are discussed and a framework for calculating break-even distances is suggested. Research limitations The research elaborates on break-even distances in a European context using price data which are fluctuating over time, location specific and often not publicly available. Practical implications Policy initiatives promoting intermodal transport should not focus solely on long distance transport. Moreover, evaluating the competitiveness of the intermodal sector solely on a price comparison dishonours its true potential. Originality/value This chapter challenges the current European policy on intermodal transport by showing the price competitiveness of intermodal transport in two cases.

It is widely believed that oil prices impact food prices in developing countries. Yet rigorous evidence on this relationship is scarce. Using maize and petrol price data from east Africa, we show that global oil prices do affect food prices but primarily through transport costs, rather than through biofuel or production cost channels. We find that global oil prices transmit much more rapidly to the pump and then to local maize prices than do global maize prices, suggesting that the immediate effects of correlated commodity price shocks on local food prices are driven more by transport costs than by the prices of the grains themselves. Furthermore, we present suggestive evidence that, for markets furthest inland, changes in world oil prices have larger effects on local maize prices than do changes in world maize prices.

The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the World Bank have agreed to carry out a Climate Change Assessment (CCA) within the framework of the Bank's Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Nigeria (2010-13). The CCA includes an analysis of options for low-carbon development in selected sectors, including power, oil and gas, transport, and agriculture. The goal of the low-carbon analysis is to define likely trends in carbon emissions up to 2035, based on government sector development plans, and to identify opportunities for achieving equivalent development objectives with a reduced carbon footprint. This study comprises the following components: (i) development of a reference scenario of greenhouse gas (GHG) net emissions for the agriculture sector, consistent with vision 20: 2020 and other government plans; (ii) identification of opportunities for reduced net emissions- reduced emissions and or enhanced carbon sequestration- while achieving the same development objectives as in the reference scenario; and (iii) economic assessment of low-carbon options in order to help the Nigerian government to prioritize policy options. The study evaluates costs and benefits in a partial equilibrium setting, with no attempt to capture the indirect, general equilibrium effects of adopting low-carbon technologies or management practices. The results of this analysis (the first of its kind in Nigeria) should be considered as a first approximation of the potential for low-carbon development in the Nigerian agriculture sector. The study aims at providing policy makers with an order-of-magnitude estimate of mitigation potential, and an understanding of the value of dedicating further efforts (including through specific projects) at pursuing low-carbon development in agriculture, but is not meant to inform the design of specific, project-level interventions.

Transport CO2 emissions continue to grow globally despite advances in low-carbon technology and goal setting by numerous governments. In this Perspective, we summarize available evidence for the effectiveness of climate policies and policy mixes for road transport relative to 2030 and 2050 mitigation goals implied by the Paris Agreement. Current policy mixes in most countries are not nearly stringent enough. We argue that most regions need a stronger, more integrated policy mix led by stringent regulations and complemented by pricing mechanisms as well as other efforts to reduce vehicle travel.As road transport emissions are set to grow, stronger policy mixes are needed to reach mitigation goals. This Perspective considers the evidence for several policy types—strong regulation, pricing and reduced travel—and the best combination to reduce emissions for passenger and freight vehicles.