Ali Noor, Senior VP Sales
I recently spoke on behalf of Webb Fontaine at the Kenya-Namibia Trade Mission 2026, organised by the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs and the Kenya High Commission in Namibia, alongside the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, in collaboration with the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board.
It was a good room to be in: revenue and port authorities, corridor institutions and business people from both countries. Here are my highlights:
Once a trade agreement is signed, the challenge is making it work in practice. Shipments can still be delayed by paperwork, repeated inspections and slow approval processes.
Intra-African trade reached around $220 billion in 2024, roughly 15% of Africa’s total merchandise trade, according to Afreximbank. The World Bank estimates that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could add $450 billion to the continent’s income by 2035. Closing the distance between those two figures has less to do with tariff schedules than with documents, queues, repeated inspections and the hours cargo spends waiting for someone to sign something.
There is a number for this. The WTO estimates that fully implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement would cut trade costs by 14.3% on average and reduce import times by 47%, almost none of which requires new construction.
2- Namibia has already built the difficult part
Namibia has invested significantly in the infrastructure required to support regional trade.
The new container terminal at the Port of Walvis Bay increased its annual capacity from 350,000 to 750,000 TEU. The Trans-Kalahari and Trans-Caprivi corridors connect the port with landlocked countries across Southern Africa, providing the region with an important gateway to international markets.
These investments have created a strong physical foundation. There is now an opportunity to improve what happens after cargo arrives at the port. A container may be unloaded within hours, but its release can depend on information held by different organisations. When those organisations use separate systems, approvals can take longer and traders may have limited visibility over the status of their shipments.
Better coordination between the systems used by ports and border agencies can help cargo move through each stage with fewer delays.
3- Three institutions, one flow of cargo
A single consignment may involve the revenue authority and the port authority. Shipping lines, terminal operators, clearing agents and banks may also take part in the same process.
Each organisation has its own responsibilities, but their decisions affect the same shipment. When their systems do not communicate, businesses may have to submit the same information more than once. They may also need to follow separate procedures for each organisation involved.
A National Single Window gives traders one place to submit regulatory information. A Port Community System allows organisations across the port to work with consistent, up-to-date information.
Digital transit systems can support cargo moving along regional corridors. Information recorded at the point of departure can be shared with the relevant authorities along the route, reducing the need for repeated declarations.
Risk-based processing brings another practical benefit. Compliant shipments can move faster, while customs officers focus their attention on consignments that require closer examination.
Kenya and Namibia together are more interesting than the bilateral trade figures suggest: an East African export economy on one side, a Southern African logistics gateway on the other. If the link between them works properly, it gives the rest of the continent something concrete to copy.
Traders are pragmatic. They send cargo through whichever corridor they can predict, and predictability now depends heavily on the quality of the information travelling alongside the goods. Which makes it, to my mind, one of the more tractable problems in African trade right now.
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About Webb Fontaine
Webb Fontaine is revolutionising international trade by empowering governments and communities with technology powered by AI. We offer comprehensive solutions across the trade spectrum, ranging from risk management to Customs systems, Single Window and beyond. Webb Fontaine is headquartered in Dubai, UAE with a presence across Europe, Middle East, South America, Asia and Africa.