<p>Problem – The expansion of global trade and supply chain integration has put great emphasison logistics, particularly in the intermediary sector, freight forwarders. Whilst in developedcountries freight forwarders benefit from competitive markets and trade facilitatingpolicies, this sector in West coast Africa exhibits low logistics performance levels. Inorder to address such issues, one needs to analyse the problem and identify the causes; thisthesis focuses on identifying the bottlenecks in the freight-forwarding sector in west coastAfrica.Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to identify the bottleneck/s within thefreight-forwarding industry in west coast Africa, namely: Angola, Cameroon, DR of Congo,Gabon, and Nigeria.Method – This thesis employs a pre-study and case study method, to ensure sufficient collectionof relevant material, taking into account the lack of research in this subject. We usedthe material obtained from the interviews and the secondary source, to structure our purpose,research questions, and to define the case of our study.Results – The study concludes with a series of interesting findings; First, the activity of aFreight Forwarder depends on a series of factors that do not depend on the Freight Forwarderper se. And second, Freight Forwarders in order to accomplish their tasks, have accessto services that are shared by all providers, and that are beyond their control. To conclude,the study identifies infrastructure as a major bottleneck in the Freight Forwarding sector.</p>

Problem – The expansion of global trade and supply chain integration has put great emphasison logistics, particularly in the intermediary sector, freight forwarders. Whilst in developedcountries freight forwarders benefit from competitive markets and trade facilitatingpolicies, this sector in West coast Africa exhibits low logistics performance levels. Inorder to address such issues, one needs to analyse the problem and identify the causes; thisthesis focuses on identifying the bottlenecks in the freight-forwarding sector in west coastAfrica.Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to identify the bottleneck/s within thefreight-forwarding industry in west coast Africa, namely: Angola, Cameroon, DR of Congo,Gabon, and Nigeria.Method – This thesis employs a pre-study and case study method, to ensure sufficient collectionof relevant material, taking into account the lack of research in this subject. We usedthe material obtained from the interviews and the secondary source, to structure our purpose,research questions, and to define the case of our study.Results – The study concludes with a series of interesting findings; First, the activity of aFreight Forwarder depends on a series of factors that do not depend on the Freight Forwarderper se. And second, Freight Forwarders in order to accomplish their tasks, have accessto services that are shared by all providers, and that are beyond their control. To conclude,the study identifies infrastructure as a major bottleneck in the Freight Forwarding sector.