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Why Africa is becoming central to the future of global trade
From Hormuz to Bab el-Mandeb, recent disruptions are forcing a rethink of global trade routes-bringing African gateways into sharper strategic focus.
The recent United States-Israel war with Iran did more than rattle energy markets. It exposed, once again, a structural vulnerability at the heart of the global economy: the world still depends on a handful of narrow maritime chokepoints.
From the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab el-Mandeb, disruptions in strategic locations can send shockwaves across global supply chains, affecting energy prices, food security, inflation, and geopolitical stability. But while much of the global conversation has focused on the risks to oil markets and shipping lanes, the impact on Africa has been both immediate and profound.
On March 31, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) approved a $10 billion emergency facility to help African economies absorb the economic shock of the Middle East crisis. The Gulf Crisis Response Programme is designed to provide foreign exchange to sustain imports of fuel, food, and pharmaceuticals, while supporting key sectors such as energy, mining, tourism, and aviation. 👉 iol.co.za/business-repo…
This is not a marginal intervention. It reflects a deeper reality: Africa is highly exposed to global supply chain disruptions, and even short-term instability in distant chokepoints can translate into rising costs, shortages, and macroeconomic pressure across the continent.
In other words, what appears as a geopolitical crisis elsewhere quickly becomes an economic shock within Africa.
At the same time, the crisis has also revealed something else: global trade flows are already beginning to adapt.
Vessels bound for the Middle East have been forced to reroute, with cargo diverted and offloaded at Kenya’s underutilized Lamu Port. What was once a peripheral logistics hub has temporarily become a fallback node for global shipping, illustrating how quickly trade can reorganize when traditional routes are disrupted. 👉 africa.businessinsider.…
This shift is still limited, and it does not yet represent a structural change. But it offers a glimpse of a broader trend:
👉 when chokepoints fail, new geographies are activated
A continent rewiring itself
Across Africa, governments and institutions are accelerating efforts to build alternatives. These efforts are often described as “corridors”, but that only tells part of the story.
What is emerging is something more complex:
👉 a network of corridors and gateways
Corridors: Connecting the continent
Trade corridors are designed to move goods more efficiently across space, linking inland regions to coasts and connecting fragmented markets.
Across Africa, several key corridors are taking shape:
Tunisia’s land corridor linking North Africa to Sahel states such as Niger, Mali, and Chad, aimed at reducing costs and improving access to Mediterranean markets
The Ubangi River initiative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, transforming internal waterways into a regional trade system
The Lobito Corridor, linking Angola’s Atlantic coast to Zambia and the DRC, with potential extension toward Tanzania
👉 As detailed in our recent publication by Dr. Irit Bak israel-africa.org/wp-co…
The Abidjan-Lagos coastal corridor, gradually forming a continuous economic belt along West Africa’s most dynamic markets
These corridors reduce dependence on traditional bottlenecks and create new pathways for trade, investment, and regional integration.
Gateways: Controlling the flow
But corridors alone are not enough.
Trade does not just move - it concentrates, redirects, and scales through key nodes.
These are gateways.
Across Africa, several locations are emerging as strategic hubs:
Morocco (Tanger Med), positioning itself as a bridge between Europe, the Atlantic, and West Africa
Djibouti, anchoring access to the Red Sea and serving as a logistics hub for East Africa
Kenya (Mombasa and Lamu), linking Indian Ocean routes to inland markets
South Africa (Durban and Cape Town), connecting global maritime routes around the Cape
These gateways do more than facilitate trade.
👉 They shape it.
They determine where goods are processed, where value is captured, and how influence is exercised.
The Strategic layer: The Red Sea and the Horn
The importance of this emerging network becomes even clearer when viewed alongside developments in the Red Sea.
If Hormuz exposed one vulnerability, the Bab el-Mandeb highlights another. This narrow passage remains essential to global trade between Europe and Asia.
In this context, Somaliland’s geographic position takes on renewed significance.
Located near the Bab el-Mandeb, it sits at the intersection of:
maritime chokepoints
emerging trade routes
regional security dynamics
👉 Any serious effort to diversify or secure global trade flows must account for this geography.
From efficiency to resilience
What we are witnessing is not simply a response to a single crisis.
It is part of a broader transformation in how global trade is structured.
For decades, efficiency and cost minimization defined supply chains. Today, resilience is becoming the dominant principle.
Redundancy, diversification, and geographic flexibility are no longer inefficiencies - they are strategic necessities.
A New role for Africa
In that emerging system, Africa’s role is changing.
Its geography, long seen as a constraint, is becoming an asset.
Its infrastructure gaps, once a liability, are now investment frontiers.
And its position between major global markets gives it the potential to serve as both:
a bridge
and a buffer
in a more fragmented global economy.
🔑 Bottom Line
The Iran-Israel crisis did not create the vulnerabilities in global trade.
👉 It revealed them.
And in doing so, it accelerated a shift already underway:
👉 the search for alternative routes, partners, and systems.
Africa is no longer just exposed to that search.
👉 It is becoming a central platform where it is being resolved.
