Continuity
Ports, chokepoints and the cost of a longer voyage
Disruption at sea reaches inland programmes through delay, cost and scarcity. Planning starts with knowing which port and which passage your supplies depend on.
Know your dependency
Map each critical supply back to its port of entry and the sea passage that serves it. Many East African programmes depend on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden routes without knowing it.
When a chokepoint is disrupted, rerouting adds weeks and cost. Those effects arrive inland well after the headlines.
Plan for the delay, not the event
Hold a deliberate buffer of the items that cannot be substituted locally: medical supplies, specialist parts, fuel where shortages recur.
Watch port congestion and insurance cost reporting as well as security reporting. Both move before shipping schedules do.
Use what is already published
Port authorities, shipping lines and maritime security centres publish advisories and schedule changes. Read them as part of routine planning, not only when something goes wrong.
More on continuity
Reading a corridor before it closes
Most route closures give warning. The signs are in fuel prices, queue lengths, border notices and the behaviour of drivers who use the road every day.
Supplier checks that keep programmes running
A supplier that fails in a crisis can halt a programme as surely as a closed road. A few simple checks reveal most of the risk.