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$Unique_ID{COW02370}
$Pretitle{361}
$Title{Mauritania
Chapter 3C. Transportation and Communications}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Robert E. Handloff}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{percent
mauritania
mauritania's
exports
government
imports
iron
ore
bank
current}
$Date{1987}
$Log{Figure 9.*0237001.scf
Loading Iron Ore*0237002.scf
Figure 10.*0237003.scf
}
Country: Mauritania
Book: Mauritania, A Country Study
Author: Robert E. Handloff
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date: 1987
Chapter 3C. Transportation and Communications
The developed transportation network centered on the mining and fishing
industries. The country's only railroad, a 650-kilometer-long line, connected
the Zouirat mines with Nouadhibou (see fig. 9). Both the railroad and the ore
port were operated by SNIM. The port had the capacity to handle bulk ore
carriers of up to 150,000 tons, and the railroad carried some of the world's
longest and heaviest trains (see Mining, this ch.). Nouadhibou was the
country's only natural deep-water port and, in addition to the ore port,
contained a separate commercial and fishing port. The fishing port was
upgraded in 1983 under a US $8 million World Bank loan.
In late 1986, the US $150 million Friendship Port at Nouakchott was
officially opened. Financed and built by China, the 500,000-ton-per-year
deep-water port was an engineering feat, as the Chinese laborers had to
contend with strong Atlantic currents and waves up to six meters high. The
port was expected to eliminate the need to divert 35 to 40 percent of
Nouakchott's traffic through Dakar, Senegal, and to reduce the high percentage
of goods lost during transshipment from ships at anchorage. Despite the
official opening, by late 1987 the new port was not yet in service because it
still lacked certain facilities and equipment.
In the late 1980s, Mauritania's total road network was estimated at 9,000
kilometers. Only 1,500 kilometers of roadway were paved; the roadway consisted
mainly of two trunk roads. The remaining roads were little more than tracks on
the sand. Road construction had been a high priority for Mauritania's planners
in the 1970s. The chief project at that time was the US $300 million,
1,000-kilometer Nouakchott-Nema Road (also called the Trans-Mauritanian
Highway), financed largely through loans from Arab members of OPEC. But
because the road was constructed through the desert north of the populated
agricultural region along the Senegal River, additional major funding was
later needed to link the southern towns of Bogue and Kaedi to the capital via
this largely unused trunk road. Moreover, projected recurrent costs for
maintenance of the Nouakchott- Nema Road were well above the government's
foreseeable budgetary means. Mauritania's other major surfaced road connected
the capital to Akjoujt and Rosso.
Airports at Nouakchott and Nouadhibou were capable of handling commercial
jet aircraft. In 1986 the French were conducting studies to expand the airport
at Nouakchott to handle Boeing 747s and comparable aircraft, and the European
Development Fund was financing an automatic communications center at the
airport. In the mid-1980s, the capital was served by Air Afrique, Iberia,
Royal Air Maroc, and Union des Transports Aeriens (UTA), including
twice-weekly direct flights to Paris and six weekly flights to Dakar, where
links were available for direct flights to New York three times a week.
Internal flights were available between the capital and Nouadhibou and some
thirty smaller airports. The national airline, Air Mauritanie, operated two
eighty-seat Fokker F-28 passenger airliners for domestic flights and for
flights to Dakar and Las Palmas.
In 1985 radiotelephone and wireless telegraph services linked Nouakchott
to Paris, to most regional capitals, and to other towns in Mauritania. In 1986
the government began operating earth satellite stations in Nouakchott and
Nouadhibou. The system linked Mauritania to the International
Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) network and the Arab
Satellite Telecommunications Organization (ARABSAT) network. It provided
ninety telephone or telegraph circuits and a link for television reception and
transmission.
Trade
Located between the rich civilizations of Sudanic Black Africa and Arab
North Africa, Mauritania was historically a crossroads for trade. In modern
times, the trans-Saharan trade--based on the exchange of gold, slaves, and
salt--was superseded by trade with Senegal, Mali, and France. Mauritania's
chief export during colonial times was gum arabic. Since independence,
however, there has been a radical shift toward the export of mineral raw
materials and the import of food, petroleum, and manufactured goods.
Exports
[See Figure 9.: Transportation System.]
[See Loading Iron Ore: Nouakchott. Courtesy Embassy of Mauritania, Washington.]
Since independence, Mauritania's main exports have been iron ore and
fish. Between 1963 and 1980, iron ore exports were clearly most important,
averaging 80 percent of the value of total exports. By the mid-1980s, however,
fish exports had outstripped iron ore exports. Between 1980 and 1986, the
value of fish exports rose to 59 percent of total exports; in 1983 fishing
replaced iron ore as the major foreign exchange earner. During the same
period, iron ore exports fell to around 40 percent of total exports. This
circumstance did not reflect a significant decline in iron ore production, but
rather a change in the way fish catches were recorded.
Imports
The structure of Mauritania's imports since independence has reflected
the country's growing dependence on foreign food, merchandise, and energy
products. As domestic production of grains fell because of neglect and
drought, the nation's reliance on commercially imported food grew. Between
1973 and 1986, commercial imports of grains and other foodstuffs, such as
sugar and tea, averaged about 31 percent of all domestically financed imports.
Ironically, in the periods of the worst drought, commercial food imports fell
as Mauritania received free food assistance from the United States and Western
Europe.
Other important domestically financed imports included petroleum
products, construction materials, and transportation equipment. The values of
these items and their percentage of total imports varied greatly from year to
year, depending on such factors as development project requirements and
military-related needs. A significant portion of imports were financed by
foreign sources, often as components of development schemes or as emergency
aid in times of drought. Between 1973 and 1986, imports directly financed
abroad averaged over 20 percent of total imports.
Direction of Trade
At independence, Mauritania traded mostly with its African neighbors. In
1961 almost 75 percent of the country's exports--then primarily
livestock--went to Senegal and Mali. Imports of modern consumer goods came
principally from France, moving through the ports of Senegal before
transshipment to Mauritania.
With the emergence of the iron industry and of large-scale development
projects in Mauritania, this picture changed. In the 1960s and 1970s, the
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, and France imported most of Mauritania's iron ore. By the 1980s,
as fishing exports increased, Western Europe became less important as a market
for Mauritania's exports. Among industrial countries, which in 1986 took
around 90 percent of the country's recorded exports, Japan received 28
percent, Italy 24.6 percent, Belgium 15.8 percent, and France 14.7 percent.
The rise in Japan's portion of Mauritania's exports reflected both a
diversification in iron ore customers and Japan's appetite for fish.
Since independence, France has remained Mauritania's most important
supplier. In 1964 France provided 54 percent of the country's imports. That
percentage dropped to 39