Further to Mrs May’s African visit, is road transport from UK to Africa viable? Is there a ferry from Gibraltar? Could African trade compensate for the loss of EU trade?
Optimum:
Further to Mrs May’s African visit, is road transport from UK to Africa viable? Is there a ferry from Gibraltar? Could African trade compensate for the loss of EU trade?
Yes yes and yes
nick2008:
Optimum:
Further to Mrs May’s African visit, is road transport from UK to Africa viable? Is there a ferry from Gibraltar? Could African trade compensate for the loss of EU trade?Yes yes and yes
Yes. Yes. No.
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What has either Africa or Europe got that we can’t do for ourselves.Also why would we want to import agricultural produce for example from a region which supposedly can’t feed its own people.On that note can anyone remember Live Aid.
While exactly on what is the premise,that we supposedly can’t trade with Europe as a non EU country based anyway.When we traded with the place happily and ironically more advantageously,before we joined the EU.While the shop shelves and car dealers here are full of Oriental manufactured crap and have been since we joined the EU.
As for remainer May yeah right.Another project fear let’s show them how crap we can make Brexit in the hope that they’ll change their minds publicity stunt.For her information she might as well call the inevitable General Election stunt that she’s got planned now and hopefully she’ll then be kicked out and we’ll see if we can transfer as much of the leave vote as possible into a UKIP vote.Which will be the only way that we’ll ever leave the EU. 
For African trade read Chinese.
I do hope, for all sorts of reasons, that Africa is economically on the up, finally. I doubt, though that any wealth generated will stay there. If it booms, when the inevitable bust follows, there will be scenes that will make Idi Amin look like a kindly, welcoming benefactor.
IIRC, it was tried once as a continuation of the middle east run.
When the British trucks arrived at their destination, every item of cargo was ruined…shaken to bits by the road.
Having said that, Eric Vick used to run direct to Morocco…further south there’s the little matter of the Sahara Desert, plus a load of political instability.
Road transport to north Africa is existant, but to Sub Saharan Africa, where Mrs May has been it is a non runner really.
Ferries from Algeciras used to go to Tangier but there is a new port now isn`t there?
Mostly hanging garments in the trailers back from there, once upon a time.
Trade? Needs a longer answer but first question is why is Mrs May there? To make a deal for post Brexit Britain. Good. To replace the current EU deal we have. She announced an extra £4 billion of UK investment in Africa. That s not overnight and isnt a gift, but it is a lot of money.
According to the ONS 2016:
We have about 48% of our exports to the EU. £235 billion
South Africa £4 b
Kenya £half b
Nigeria £2 b
So, if we lost say 10% of our trade with the EU (just a figure plucked out of the air) thatd be a loss of £23billion. To compensate wed need to increase our trade with those three countries by more than 300% !
Very rough figures but you`ll get the drift. And is there that potential there? African economies seem more dynamic, but that is from a lower base.
GDPs of the countries look like this.
EU 19,700 billion ($US)
S.A 295 b
Kenya 71 b
Nigeria 405 b
Africa is economically not a big potential partner. Rich countries buy more stuff than poor countries!
EDIT to add GDP UK 2,600 billion
and just London alone could have a GDP of
600 b. Twice that of South Africa ! Puts things into perspective maybe?
As most of the CAR have little or no electric and therefore no TV they don’t know who Theresa May is and those that do have TV think she is Brian Mays wife and James Mays mum.
Wheel Nut:
As most of the CAR have little or no electric and therefore no TV they don’t know who Theresa May is and those that do have TV think she is Brian Mays wife and James Mays mum.
TV ? You is soooo old!
Nigeria has 18.5% and South Africa 44% of their population with SmartPhones. No need for TV to get the news! They are leapfrogging copper wire and mains electricity use. Mobile internet and solar power straight off the starting blocks.
Franglais:
Road transport to north Africa is existant, but to Sub Saharan Africa, where Mrs May has been it is a non runner really.
Ferries from Algeciras used to go to Tangier but there is a new port now isn`t there?
Mostly hanging garments in the trailers back from there, once upon a time.Trade? Needs a longer answer but first question is why is Mrs May there? To make a deal for post Brexit Britain. Good. To replace the current EU deal we have. She announced an extra £4 billion of UK investment in Africa. That
s not overnight and isnt a gift, but it is a lot of money.
According to the ONS 2016:
We have about 48% of our exports to the EU. £235 billion
South Africa £4 b
Kenya £half b
Nigeria £2 bSo, if we lost say 10% of our trade with the EU (just a figure plucked out of the air) that
d be a loss of £23billion. To compensate wed need to increase our trade with those three countries by more than 300% !
Very rough figures but you`ll get the drift. And is there that potential there? African economies seem more dynamic, but that is from a lower base.GDPs of the countries look like this.
EU 19,700 billion ($US)
S.A 295 b
Kenya 71 b
Nigeria 405 bAfrica is economically not a big potential partner. Rich countries buy more stuff than poor countries!
EDIT to add GDP UK 2,600 billion
and just London alone could have a GDP of
600 b. Twice that of South Africa ! Puts things into perspective maybe?
Rich countries buy more than poor countries.Great all the more reason why we need to stop hitting Australia,NZ,Canada and the USA with EU imposed import tariffs to give them all the incentive to buy more from us.
In exchange for lessening our exposure to the poorer East Euro economies.With the win win of also reducing our trade deficit with Germany.You know the richest economy in the EU which buys more from Belgium than it buys from us.IE at best EU trade is just a massive deficit liability to us not an asset.While having said that exactly what evidence shows that Brexit would/should make the slightest difference to our EU trade relationship anyway.While if they really want a trade tarrif war we can only benefit from it.
When I ran my own little company many years ago I did a roaring trade running down to Morocco and back.
Difference was though it was using vans due to time and costs.
I used the many expat forums to gather up some personal belongings to take down to the newly expanding holiday home areas around Asilah and some to Casablanca then onto Marrakesh to collect high value handmade furniture to deliver back through Spain and the UK, although mostly to London and Edinburgh.
I’m not one to bother about the politics to be fair, I’ll leave that to the usual experts on here to bang on about trade etc and speculate on a basis of no actual experience,I can only go on what I experienced and that was of a country very keen to become a gateway to Europe and this was over a decade ago.
Yes there was a level of corruption but it was one of the best countries I’ve ever visited or worked in as far as the people and culture went, miss it lots.
Norfolkinclue1:
When I ran my own little company many years ago I did a roaring trade running down to Morocco and back.
Difference was though it was using vans due to time and costs.
I used the many expat forums to gather up some personal belongings to take down to the newly expanding holiday home areas around Asilah and some to Casablanca then onto Marrakesh to collect high value handmade furniture to deliver back through Spain and the UK, although mostly to London and Edinburgh.
I’m not one to bother about the politics to be fair, I’ll leave that to the usual experts on here to bang on about trade etc and speculate on a basis of no actual experience,I can only go on what I experienced and that was of a country very keen to become a gateway to Europe and this was over a decade ago.
Yes there was a level of corruption but it was one of the best countries I’ve ever visited or worked in as far as the people and culture went, miss it lots.
So remind us what happened to the Paris Dakar rally and why.Here’s a clue it had nothing to do with the possibility of crashing or getting lost.
As for ‘Africa’ it’s bit bigger than just Morocco while Morocco ain’t exactly the be all and end all of our trading regime and it’s obvious that only the Southern end of Africa is even remotely viable which of course both us and the Dutch knew more than a century ago.That all ended well.Unsurprisingly when they were shipping out food and natural resources while Africans starved.But of course remainer May already knew/knows all that.
With talk of white owned farms been ceased in South Africa it will probably go the way of Zimbabwe so will have ■■■■ all to trade anyway
As far as trade with Africa goes we are a bit late to the party. China has all of the good bits sewn up already. I am on my pension now but I do remember Mark Thatcher getting lost and his mum sending the Military out to bring him home.
alamcculloch:
As far as trade with Africa goes we are a bit late to the party. China has all of the good bits sewn up already. I am on my pension now but I do remember Mark Thatcher getting lost and his mum sending the Military out to bring him home.
Apart from getting lost wasn’t he involved in something more serious?
Edit. Controversial arms deal and conviction in South Africa for involvement in attempted coup.
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Franglais:
alamcculloch:
As far as trade with Africa goes we are a bit late to the party. China has all of the good bits sewn up already. I am on my pension now but I do remember Mark Thatcher getting lost and his mum sending the Military out to bring him home.Apart from getting lost wasn’t he involved in something more serious?
Edit. Controversial arms deal and conviction in South Africa for involvement in attempted coup.
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If memory serves correct, wasn’t he with some French bint at the time?
kr79:
With talk of white owned farms been ceased in South Africa it will probably go the way of Zimbabwe so will have [zb] all to trade anyway
You’re not wrong there mate, I know heaps of SAFA’s taking refuge here in NZ and everyone of them do not want to go “home” ever again.
I went to Morocco in the year they stopped the Paris - Dakar.
Went in my Navara with a mate in his Nissan thingy…We went to see if it really was as bad as stated.
We spent a couple of weeks wild camping all over the place, including the desert, the only trouble we had was in the Cannabis fields of the Rif mountains, they tried to ram us off the mountain road and take all we had, they were not expecting us to fight back! When we got to Chefchaouen, we asked the hotel geezer if they would have shot us if we had have stopped…He replied in the positive!
I wanted to go back again, because it was the greatest buzz I have ever had in my life.
I would do Morocco, but only with a hand gun.
A taster from Aljazeera: