“What Does the Future Hold for International Maritime Arbitration in Africa?”
In a geopolitical context favorable to the development of the continent’s major ports — such as the ports of Algiers, Tanger Med, Lomé, and Durban — African maritime traffic now exceeds 6 billion tonnes per year. This rise in prominence is accompanied by an increase in disputes between port stakeholders and maritime carriers, often foreign, with the dominance of major international shipowners (MSC, CMA CGM, Maersk).
The transformation of maritime transport in Africa is today characterized by the emergence and restructuring of national and regional operators to strengthen economic sovereignty and connectivity — such as CNAN and ENTMV in Algeria — as well as the ship repair sector, particularly in Algeria and the Red Sea region. This generates an increase in disputes requiring a local dispute resolution mechanism that is reliable, adapted, fast, efficient, accessible, secure, and of high quality.
To this end, African international arbitration — which already has African arbitration seats such as the Kigali International Arbitration Centre in Rwanda and the CACI (Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) in Algeria — is seeking to establish itself as the preferred route for resolving these disputes.
Indeed, African arbitration is evolving toward greater autonomy in its terminology, moving away from local or national concepts to focus on transnational standards (lex mercatoria) in line with international rules and agreements, emphasizing the effectiveness of arbitration (ad hoc vs. institutional arbitration) combining speed, neutrality, and legal certainty.
Is African arbitration secure enough to assert itself in the future?
First and foremost, let us recall that the rise of African maritime arbitration cannot be viewed solely through the prism of African economic operators, since maritime disputes on the continent also involve numerous international groups operating in the transport, port logistics, shipping, and maritime infrastructure sectors — such as CMA CGM or the Italian-Swiss group MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company).
The challenge is therefore to draw in foreign operators who already have an established practice of international arbitration, where each contract designates an arbitration center based on its activity and nature, and who have long relied on established Western structures. For example, the arbitration clauses of NYPE and GENCON charter parties usually designate the LMAA (London Maritime Arbitrators Association) or the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) in Paris; while shipbuilding contracts typically designate CMAC Hong Kong (China Maritime Arbitration Commission) or the ICC — and to attract them toward African structures that must, in turn, win them over.
Things are moving in this direction, even if the trend is still in its early stages and will take some time. But in a context of lasting maritime logistics disruption and the realignment of international trade, African arbitration is no longer a peripheral option: it is now emerging as a strategic solution offering economic actors enhanced legal security, better management of commercial risks, and an effective response to the economic and geopolitical challenges specific to the African continent.
Indeed, African arbitration is now positioned to become a genuine lever for securing international investments. It allows companies to limit exposure to judicial uncertainties and potential administrative interference, while guaranteeing a more predictable, confidential, and controlled dispute resolution framework.
Thanks to its flexibility, it offers economic operators a legally neutral and tailor-made environment, giving them the freedom to choose the seat of arbitration, the arbitrators, the applicable law, and the language of the proceedings, in order to perfectly adapt the dispute resolution to the requirements of their activities and markets.
This neutrality is a strategic imperative in financially and sovereign-intensive sectors such as port concessions, public-private partnerships (PPPs), oil and gas, and maritime transport, where the slightest risk of interference or legal insecurity can jeopardize investments worth several millions and permanently destabilize contractual relations.
Furthermore, OHADA (the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa) has profoundly transformed the landscape of African arbitration by imposing a modern, harmonized legal framework that is particularly attractive to international investors and operators.
OHADA law rests on a high-performing Uniform Act, promoting the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in several African states, while significantly strengthening legal security and the predictability of cross-border commercial operations.
Through the CCJA (Common Court of Justice and Arbitration), established in Abidjan, Africa now has a leading continental arbitral institution capable of offering economic actors credible, structured arbitral justice adapted to the strategic challenges of African and international trade.
Like specialized commercial courts, African arbitration centers offer operational expertise directly connected to African realities on the ground. Their true added value lies in their thorough understanding of local practices, administrative customs, customs constraints, port challenges, and the economic mechanisms specific to African markets.
This proximity allows companies to obtain more pragmatic, faster, and economically coherent decisions, far removed from theoretical analyses often disconnected from the continent’s operational realities. It also reduces the sometimes exorbitant costs of European arbitration and limits cultural, regulatory, and commercial misunderstandings that could undermine the effective resolution of international disputes.
African arbitration is thus becoming a genuine tool for competitiveness and business security, shaped by actors with concrete knowledge of African economic dynamics and the requirements of international operators. In many disputes related to African markets, arbitration organized in Algiers, Abidjan, or Cairo proves today to be far more strategic, effective, and economically relevant than quasi-systematic recourse to traditional venues such as Paris or London.
For example, the CACI offers a high-level competitive alternative, combining regional expertise, mastery of local economic realities, and procedural costs that are significantly more attractive than those charged by some European institutions, where arbitrators’ fees, administrative costs, and logistical expenses can quickly become substantial.
Beyond the financial advantage, African arbitration offers decisive operational proximity: more accessible procedures for companies on the continent, better logistical fluidity, reduced travel costs, and immediate understanding of African commercial issues. It is no longer merely a regional option, but a genuine choice that stands out for its performance, efficiency, and economic sovereignty.
Finally, African arbitration centers are experiencing remarkable growth and are now aligning with the best international standards. Equipped with lists of internationally renowned arbitrators, largely dematerialized procedures, and regulations inspired by major European institutions, they today offer companies a modern, credible environment perfectly adapted to the demands of maritime transport.
In this dynamic, the enforceability of arbitral awards constitutes a major advantage. Thanks to the 1958 New York Convention, ratified by 172 states including Algeria, decisions rendered within the framework of African arbitration benefit from particularly effective international recognition, thereby reinforcing investor security and the confidence of economic operators.
According to the CACI, the enforcement rate of arbitral awards in Algeria between 2018 and 2025 would reach 78%, illustrating the progressive consolidation of arbitral effectiveness in the region.
In a context where African and maritime trade is experiencing major strategic expansion, African arbitration is now emerging as a genuine tool for competitiveness, investment security, and optimization of business relations. Maritime operators working on the continent therefore have every interest in favoring dispute resolution mechanisms designed as close as possible to the legal, cultural, economic, and operational realities of Africa.
Accordingly, recourse to African maritime arbitration centers no longer constitutes a mere regional choice, but a genuine solution offering economic operators a modern, high-performing normative framework fully aligned with international standards of maritime arbitration.
These institutions today guarantee the essential principles sought by investors and actors in international maritime transport: neutrality and independence of arbitrators, procedural security, speed in handling disputes, confidentiality of exchanges, and effectiveness in the enforcement of arbitral awards.
In the current geopolitical and economic context, marked by the reconfiguration of trade routes and the rise of African markets, African maritime arbitration is now emerging as a credible, reliable, and highly competitive alternative to the traditional major arbitral venues.
Algiers, Abidjan, and Cairo are now on the path to becoming the future ‘Seats of International Maritime Arbitration,’ as they now offer the same institutional and legal guarantees as the traditional international arbitral jurisdictions.
By Maître Rym Boukhari
