THE USE OF ICT IN MARITIME INDUSTRY IN CAMEROON

Abstract

Information technology has become an essential part of the rapid and accurate transfer and processing of enormous volumes of data processed in international transport firms and port organizations. The proper management of systems, which process this information and communicate it to those who manage port operations, is vital for efficient transport. This explains why container-tracking systems are given high priority among operational computer applications in ports. Investigates into the use of information communication technology in maritime industry becomes pertinent. The importance of information technology in supply-chain management is also discussed

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

The maritime sector in Cameroon comprises of ports, shipping, dockyards, Inland Water Transport (IWT) and all marine related activities. It caters for the bulk of Cameron’s trade and investment through import and exchange of commodities which is critical for the economic development of the country. It also influences the pace, structure and pattern of development. Cameroon has a pivotal place within central African economic grouping, providing important access routes to seaports on the Gulf of Guinea for its landlocked neighbors. It’s economic and demographic weight as well as its strategic position at the heart of CEMAC makes Cameroon the central African natural locomotive. A leadership that the Central Africa Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and chad could not contest because even combined, these countries hardly achieve the economic importance of Cameroon, which alone accounts for 52% of CEMACs GDP. Commercially, Cameroon serve as a locomotive, if not almost the only country in the area which exports to all other central African countries, without importing anything from its neighbours. Thus it serves as a natural hub for the region, since it has one of the most important largest trading hub in central Africa that is the port of Douala. Ports in Cameroon are now used as a distribution stop over point for goods bound for chad and the Central African Republic, and its upgraded facilities are contributing to the trade of these neighboring countries proceeding more smoothly (Douala Port). Cameroon is a port state with over nine ports, out of which, only few are operational and the Douala Bonaberi port is the principal one. Although not blessed with much navigable rivers and natural seaports, the population of Cameroon depends so much on the ports for their physical mobility and for the transportation of bulky goods, and also manufacture goods from Europe and were head loaded to the hinterlands. Douala is Cameroon’s largest city and its financial capital. The city is divided into two by the Wouri River, where the country’ s main port, built in the 19th century, is situated. Douala Port has an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes and reported $9m (£6.7m) in full-year profit for 2019. Cameroon recently opened a second port in the resort town of Kribi, 150km away in the South Province.

But both ports have seen a drop in imports and exports due to the pandemic, as well as a backlog in containers being stored in the port due to border restrictions in neighbouring countries. Recently, there has been a surge of concern about maritime safety and security, with particular focus on the danger that insecurity of the seas poses to Nigerian commerce and the country’s peace and stability. The quest for peaceful trade and movement over the water ways, adequate security, stability and development in the Nigerian maritime sector is of paramount importance. The Republic of Cameroon is situated in Central Africa, sharing boundaries with Nigeria to the west, Chad to the northeast, Central African Republic to the east, Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to the south with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. It is a unitary state, with a surface area of 475,442 square km, made up of ten regions subdivided in to fifty-eight (58) divisions and further subdivided into 375 districts currently in the process of decentralisation. The population as at July 2018 is estimated at 24,640 million inhabitants with a literacy rate of 75% (CIA World Factbook). 54.6 percent of the total population is between 15 and 64 years of age. Yaounde, the capital city, has a population of 3.412 million (2018) and Douala has a population of 3.656 million (2018). The official languages are English and French.

Cameroon is called Africa in miniature due to its strategic geographical location, diversified culture (over 240 tribes composed of Bantus, Semi-Bantus, Soudanians, Hamites and Semites), two main religions: Christianity and Islam, climate (tropical and humid in the south and dry in the north with two seasons), vast equatorial forest found in most African countries. Its natural resources include: Petroleum, Bauxite, iron ore, timber and hydropower.

In relation to Communications, according to July 2017 figures (CIA World FactBook), there were 699,055 fixed phone lines in use compared with 19.7 million mobile phones. There were 6.12 million Internet users as at June 2017, representing 25.0% of the population. This increase is due to the introduction of 3/4G technologies and availability of low cost smart phones at national level.

In terms of ICT Infrastructure, there is a SAT-3 marine cable inward with access points in Douala (main one), Limbe (WACS) and Kribi (ACE). There is a national backbone of over 6,000 km of fibre optic cable laid down and financed by the Chinese Government. There is a fibre optic loop in Douala and a second being laid in Yaounde. Cameroon is linked to Chad with fibre optic cable under the Central African Backbone (CAB) project. VSAT Internet is widely used. The feasibility study for establishment of a National Internet eXchange point (IXP) was financed by the World Bank . The Government of Cameroon commenced establishing of the national IXP in 2015 and the implementation phase is now completed. The two IXPs in Douala and Yaounde will be operational once the official inaugeration is done during Q4 2017. There are 150 operational tele-centres, with a further 30 being put into service and 16 under construction. This infrastructural upgrade has necessitate the development of Cameroon maritime sector. The contributions of globalization to the spread of weapons of mass destruction are alarming. Advancing technology coupled with the global spread of ideas and technologies has made it easier for states and even groups with resources to access critical knowledge, materials and technologies, pursue the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction: biological, chemical or nuclear (Obahighbon, 2010). ICT, Globalization and Maritime Piracy in Contemporary Africa. The resurgence of maritime piracy in contemporary Africa constitutes another major security challenge to the continent’s security. Maritime piracy has no doubt inflicted very profound economic, political, social and strategic consequences on the continent and it peoples that it threatens the entire fabric and ramifications of the continent’s security architecture. The bewildering increase in the number of the incidences of maritime piracy is unquantifiable as the damage done to the continent’s peace, stability, prosperity, development, environmental, investment, revenue, humanitarian, commercial, energy, and food security terms is colossal (Uadiale and Yonmo, 2010a). Accelerated globalization, which as a consequence has intensified and increased global commerce, as well as the Africa’s states’ failure to fulfill its quintessential traditional role and function of security provisions has impacted negatively upon maritime security, and consequently, resulting in the midwife of the phenomenon, of maritime piracy. The notoriety of piratical activities in Africa is concentrated in the Gulf of Aden, the Horn of Africa – waters of the Indian Ocean, as well as the Red seas areas for the Somalia pirates; as well as the Gulf of Guinea mostly caused by Nigerian pirates. There are, however, growing fears that Africa is gradually becoming the new hotspot for such attacks, with almost half of the world’s reported pirate attacks (Uadiale and Yonmo, 2010a) With the rising challenges of crude oil theft, kidnapping, sea piracy, arms smuggling, terror attacks and other marine-related criminal activities already described above, ICT can provide a platform that would greatly facilitate the generation of action intelligence for the purpose of curbing the rising incidents of marine-related crimes and illegal activities. An example of the use of this actionable intelligence is the use of long-range surveillance facility which shortens the relay of information form ships in distress and also the reaction time for security forces on rapid deployment and rescue missions – thus improving safety of lives at sea. Another use of ICT in marine security is the waterways being equipped with radar coverage and satellite monitoring equipment; this will enhance the authorities’ intelligence gathering capacity as it continues to battle privacy and illicit trafficking across the water ways. The Nigerian government should adopt the use of Maritime Operations Centers across various Marine locations in the country to meet and enhance its administrative and operational functions. Having an ICT enabled Maritime Operation Centre equipped with the right maritime sensors and surveillance tools will help improve maritime safety though effective dissemination of warning to ships and other marine vessels. Such investments will yield amongst others, improved operational efficiency, provide better service delivery, reduce overall costs and meet security and other underlying organizational objectives.

Apart from the factors of globalization and the States’ failure in engendering the resurgence of this phenomenon includes: cultural acceptance, official corruption, opportunity, as well as the end of the Cold war and technological advances. The latter has allowed pirates access to modern weaponry, fast attack boats and advanced communications technology, in increasing their probability of success and, by extension, the attraction to piracy. Others include: the payment of ransom, the Amnesty program, neglect of maritime security, poor judicial approach, the use of fewer crew, the proliferation of arms, laxity of maritime security staff, etc. While most maritime security still remains a ‘mom and pop’ affair, with an emphasis on the local technology end of the scale, some pirates are clearly making greater use of technology in their activities.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Maritime transport which is also called water borne transport is one of the modes of transportation of goods and /or persons, which has for centuries been the main prerequisite for trade transactions between nations and regions, and has without doubt, played an important role in creating economic development and prosperity. (Igbokwe, 2001). The maritime industry occupies a very prominent position in the economies of nations all over the world. The industry in its strict sense embraces all business activities which take place within the maritime environment. These includes offshore economic activities such as fishing, salvage, towage, underwater resource exploitation/extraction, and onshore economic activities in ports, shipping activities, ship construction, repair and maintenance. Of all these, shipping stands out as the greatest boost to a nation’s economic growth and international status. This is because all other maritime activities revolve around shipping. The oil and gas sector, for instance depends on shipping, as it is the vehicle that drives it, enabling it to make all the difference in an economy. Due to the close link between shipping activities and economic development, most nations cannot afford to toy with the industry. It is in view of this that the researcher decide to investigate the use of ICT in maritime industry in Cameroon.

• OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to ascertain the effect of the use of ICT in the maritime industry in Cameroon. But for the successful completion of the study, the researcher put forward the following sub-objectives;

1. To identify the architecture of the ICT used in maritime industry in Cameroon
2. To highlight the areas of maritime industry in which ICT has been deployed in Cameroon

• To examine the impact of ICT by comparing the pre-ICT and post-ICT period in Cameroon.

1. To do cost benefit analysis of the introduction and use of ICT in the industry in Cameroon

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

For the successful completion of the study, the following research question was formulated

1. What the architecture of the ICT used in d maritime industry in Cameroon?
2. Are there areas of the industry that ICT has been deployed in Cameroon?

• Is there any relationship between the pre-ICT and the post-ICT period in the industry in Cameroon?

1. Are the benefit derived from the introduction of the ICT commensurate with the cost in Cameroon?
   • SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be useful to the management of the Cameroon port authority, as the study seek to enumerate ways of improving the maritime industry, the study will also be useful to the management of CIMASA as the study seek to proffer solution to safety of marine transport, as the study will guide the management of the agency to formulate policy that will enhanced effective usage and optimization of ICT, The study will also be useful to researchers who intend to embark on research in similar topic, Finally the findings of this study will also be immense benefit to government, academia, scholars, researchers and the general public.

• SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers the use of ICT in maritime industry, although in the cause of the study the researcher encounters some constraint which limited the scope of the study;

1. a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study.
2. b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities        and examinations with the study.
3. c) FINANCE: The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the        researcher has other academic bills to cover.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Maritime

Maritime history is the study of human activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant. As an academic subject, it often crosses the boundaries of standard disciplines, focusing on understanding humankind’s various relationships to the oceans, seas, and major waterways of the globe. Nautical history records and interprets past events involving ships, shipping, navigation, and seafarers

ICT

Information and communication technology (ICT) is an extended term for information technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual

Water transport

Water transportation is the intentional movement by water over large distances. Methods of transportation fall into three categories: Aqueducts, which include pipelines, canals, and tunnels. container shipment, which includes transport by tank truck, tank car, and tank ship

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