Port Assessment 

Rwanda is a landlocked country and thus has no coastline or maritime claims. It therefore relies on the ports of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for most of its imports and exports. To find a sustainable solution to market barriers, Rwanda has established an East Africa inland port through its partnership with Dubai Port.  Rwanda's In-land port named Kigali Logistics Platform offers warehousing services, transportation services, cold store for perishable products and container storage services. It is expected to help Rwanda save up to $50 million from reduction of logistics cost. To support trade and ease transportation of imported cargoes, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) opened a liaison office in Kigali in July 2013. The office allows importers to track their cargo from Kigali and pay port dues directly at Kigali.  

For information on Kenya Port of Mombasa, please see the following link: 2.1.1 Kenya Port of Mombasa 

For information on Tanzania Port of Dar es Salaam, please see the following links: 

Tanzania Port Authority Website 

2.1.1 Tanzania Port of Dar es Salaam 

Aviation 

Key airport information may also be found at: https://www.caa.gov.rw/ 

Rwanda being a relatively small country in terms of area and with relatively good quality roads there is not much requirement for many regional airports. Additionally, being such a hilly country there is little flat land.  

The aviation sector in Rwanda has seen massive growth over the recent years. The sector is regulated by the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA) which manages all aspects of civil aviation in the country. In the recent past, the institution has undergone legal reforms which have greatly impacted the execution of its operations in ensuring safety, security, and infrastructural development. 

Kigali International Airport (KIA), formerly known as Gregoire Kayibanda International Airport, is the primary airport serving Kigali, and the only international airport in the country. It is the main air gateway for all destinations in the country, and in addition serves as a transit airport for Goma and Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The airport is in the suburb of Kanombe, at the eastern edge of Kigali, approximately 12 km from the city centre. 

There has been significant growth in air traffic with the introduction of a number of international airlines to the country. KIA is undergoing expansion to meet the midterm additional capacity requirements. For the longer term, construction is currently underway for construction of a world class international airport – New Bugesera International Airport (NBIA) - which will be located some 40 km from Kigali.   

Domestic air transport is very limited. Regular flights are conducted to Kamembe Airport, while Gisenyi aerodrome is being upgraded. 

For a list of the airports in Rwanda with details on each, please see the following attachment: List of Rwanda Airports 

RwandAir, the national carrier, has in the recent past acquired new aircraft and operates on many routes in Africa and United Arab Emirates. Other airlines operating flights to Kigali include Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, SN Brussels Airline, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, and China Postal Airlines.  
  

New Bugesera International Airport (NBIA) 
Bugesera International Airport is being constructed to accommodate the growth of air traffic in Rwanda. The project will cost approximately US $650 million and will be located 25 km southeast of Kigali. The airport will have capacity for three million passengers per year. The first phase of construction will include the runway of 4,200 m, a cargo terminal and a passenger terminal with capacity for 1.8 million passengers per year. 

National Airports 

Due to COVID –19, the upgrading of the Airports was delayed hence the situation remains the same as 2016.The domestic airports of Kamembe and Gisenyi/Rubavu, located in the South and Southwest of Rwanda, respectively, it was reported by Rwanda Airports authority that minor rehabilitation works were carried out. The two airports will boost tourism in the mountains for the gorillas and volcanoes and connect the country to Goma in DRC. For more information, please see below.  

Rwandan Flyer Website, for more information on government agency and airport company contact information, please see the following links: HQ staff will input a link to sections 4.1 Government Contact List and 4.5 Airport Companies Contact List here.  

Procedures for Foreign Registered Aircraft 

A. company which wishes to register an aircraft in Rwanda shall apply to the RCAA for aircraft 

registration by submitting a duly completed prescribed application form to the RCAA. 

B. Application for aircraft registration is accepted only for aircraft of a type that is acceptable to 

the RCAA. 

Additional Documentation to be Submitted

A. It is required on application for aircraft registration to submit to the RCAA the full specification 

of the aircraft including— 

1) The full description of the type, model and serial number; 

2) Type certificate data sheet; 

3) Supplementary type certificate data, if any; 

4) Make and part numbers of avionics and equipment installed; 

5) Airworthiness Directives (ADs) status report; 

6) Copy of the current Certificate of Registration, if applicable; 

Procedures and relevant forms for utilisation of the following services are explained on the RCAA website. These include: 

• Over Flight & Landing Clearance 

• Airport Restricted Areas Form 

• Cargo Access Form 

• Procedures for Clearance of Human Remains 

• Airport Visit and Tour Notice 

When all the application and documentation is presented the process according to RCAA should take about 1 to 3 days. RCAA also provides for emergency landing upon advance notification. 

For RCAA contact information, please see the following attachment: Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority Contact Information 

For Rwanda Aviation contact details, please see the following link: 4.5 Airport Companies Contact List.  

Road Network 

All activities within the road transport sector are managed by the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) which operates under the Ministry of Infrastructure (MINIFRA). Within the legal and institutional framework stated in the National Transport Policy, MINIFRA is responsible for the sector's policies and strategies. 

Rwanda is dependent on its road transport system for the economic development of the country. All the major towns are connected by the road network. Rwanda is also well connected by the road transport system with the neighbouring countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The road system plays a very important role in the import and export business of the country. 

The Rwanda road network has improved through rehabilitation and upgrading during the past years. The total road network covers 7,500 km of paved roads and 11,346 km unpaved roads, making a total of 18846 km. Roads are classified into national (2,860 km), District (1,835 km) and gravel roads (3,563 km). (Source: RTDA) 

Primary roads, which are suitable for heavy long-haul trucks, connect the capital Kigali with the provinces and international border crossings. The paved primary roads link Kigali with the major locations of Ngoma, Kirehe, Huye, Gicumbi, Nyagatare, Rusizi, Musanze and Rubavu. Many of these roads are steep, especially in the Northern and Southern provinces, and therefore travel speeds along these roads should be quite slow. 

Secondary roads are generally acceptable for small trucks (15 MT max) but require 4WD during rainy seasons especially on roads in mountainous areas. These roads are narrow, steep and difficult to pass during the 6 – 7 month long rainy season. The condition of the district roads in rural areas will only allow small trucks of a 10 MT capacity during the dry season and only about 5 mt during the rainy season. 

Rwanda is a small country and the distances from Kigali to the provincial towns are not very far in relative terms. However, due to road conditions and the terrain, the average travelling time for a heavy loaded vehicle, it takes from Kigali as follows: Huye, 3 hours; Rusizi, 5 hours; Rubavu, 2 hours, Ngoma, 3 hours; and Karongi, 4 hours. 

All secondary roads are unpaved and become very difficult to travel across during the wet season. Truck movements during the rainy season become very difficult due to floods and mudslides, especially with the mountainous terrain of the country,  

The government’s plan to improve the transport sector places emphasis on rural areas. Its major objectives include maintenance and rehabilitation of the rural road network in order to promote commercial exchanges and reviewing the feasibility of an international railway line that connects to the Tanzanian rail network. These initiatives would make a substantial improvement to the infrastructure to support economic growth and ease the burden on humanitarian programmes.  

For more information on Primary Roads in Rwanda, please see the following attachment: Rwanda Primary Roads Information 

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List. 

Distance Matrix 

Road Security 

Security within Rwanda is generally very good and the UN Security level for Rwanda is level 1, except for the north-east of Rwanda close to the DRC border where it is level 2. The security in areas bordering DRC is very volatile due to unpredictable armed conflict in the eastern DRC.  

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits 

Following the assent of the East African Community Vehicle load bill, axle loads are limited to 56 mt and a maximum seven axles for commercial trucks. Measurement is based on axle load imposed are for a maximum 10 tons for a single axle t, 18 tons for Tandem and 24 tons for Tridem. A tolerance of 5% of the permissible maximum axle load limit shall be allowed on the axle load limits. All member states will be aligned to that law. Previously, Kenya allowed a maximum of 48 tons for vehicles on its roads, Rwanda and Burundi 53 tons, while Tanzania and Uganda allowed 56 tons. The approved higher payload to be applied will reduce the transport cost. (Sources: Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority and The East African) 

Road Class and Surface Conditions 

Bridges 

Generally, rivers are quite small in Rwanda due to the hilly nature of the land. Therefore, the bridges are quite small and are of good construction, resulting in few problems with bridges in urban areas. In the rural areas, bridges are affected by the rainy season. Two major bridges in the country are the Rusumo Bridge and the Nyabarongo Bridge. 

The Rusumo Bridge is located at the Rusumo Border Post on the Central Corridor and was first constructed in the year 1972. The construction of a One Stop Border Post (OSBP) facility between the Republic of Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania included the complete replacement with a new bridge, which is 82 m long and 13.5 m wide. The facility, which became operational in November 2014, is a key entry point for traffic originating from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Rwanda, Burundi and DRC.  

Railway Assessment 

There are currently no railway lines in Rwanda. However, there are plans to construct a railway line which would link Isaka, Tanzania to Kigali.  

The Government is committed to developing a rail transport system as one of the envisaged solutions to boosting socio-economic development, welfare of Rwandans as well as cutting down the transport costs. At present, two major rail transport corridors connecting the country to the Indian Ocean are in pipeline, with the Northern Corridor running from Mombasa-Nairobi-Kampala to Kigali, and the Central Corridor linking Kigali with Dar Es Salaam. The proposed railway in Rwanda will be a single ballasted, standard gauge system with maximum speed of 120 Kph for passenger and 80 Kph for freight. 

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List. 

Waterways Assessment 

Rwanda is a land-locked and mountainous country, and its transportation system focusses on land infrastructure. Although Rwanda has many lakes and rivers which might attract both the transport of passengers and goods, there is no significant inland waterway services except the very limited waterway operations in Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu, forming the border with DRC operates occasional boat services from Cyangugu, Kibuye and Gisenyi but not on a regular timetable and often have to be chartered. Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika. 

In the past, Lake Kivu drained toward the north, contributing to the White Nile. About 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, volcanic activity blocked Lake Kivu's outlet to the watershed of the Nile. The volcanism produced mountains, including the Virungas, which rose between Lake Kivu and Lake Edward, to the north. Water from Lake Kivu was then forced south down the Ruzizi. This, in turn, raised the level of Lake Tanganyika, which overflowed down the Lukuga River. 

Lake Kivu is approximately 42 km (26 mi) long and 50 km (31 mi) at its widest. Its irregular shape makes measuring its precise surface area difficult; it has been estimated to cover a total surface area of some 2,700 km2 (1,040 sq mi), making it Africa's eighth largest lake. The surface of the lake sits at a height of 1,460 meters (4,790 ft) above sea level. This lake has a chance of suffering a limnic eruption every 1000 years. The lake has a maximum depth of 475 m (1,558 ft) and a mean depth of 220 m (722 ft), making it the world's twentieth deepest lake by maximum depth, and the thirteenth deepest by mean depth. 

Some 1,370 square kilometres (529 sq mi) or 58 percent of the lake's waters lie within DRC borders.

The lakebed sits upon a rift valley that is slowly being pulled apart, causing volcanic activity in the area. 

The world's tenth-largest island in a lake, Idjwi, lies in Lake Kivu, within the boundaries of Virunga National Park. Settlements on the lake's shore include Bukavu, Kabare, Kalehe, Sake and Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gisenyi, Kibuye, and Cyangugu in Rwanda. 

Scientists hypothesise that sufficient volcanic interaction with the lake's bottom water that has high gas concentrations would heat water, force the methane out of the water, spark a methane explosion, and trigger a nearly simultaneous release of carbon dioxide, though the entry of 1 million cubic meters of lava during the January 2002 eruption had no effect. The carbon dioxide would then suffocate large numbers of people in the lake basin as the gases roll off the lake surface. It is also possible that the lake could spawn tsunamis as gas explodes out of it. 

The risk posed by Lake Kivu began to be understood during the analysis of more recent events at Lake Nyos. Lake Kivu's methane was originally thought to be merely a cheap natural resource for export, and for the generation of cheap power. Once the mechanisms that caused lake overturns began to be understood, so did awareness of the risk the lake posed to the local population. 

An experimental vent pipe was installed at Lake Nyos in 2001 to remove gas from the deep water, but such a solution for the much larger Lake Kivu would be considerably more expensive. The approximately 510 million metric tons (500×106 long tons) of carbon dioxide in the lake is a little under 2 percent of the amount released annually by human fossil fuel burning. Therefore, the process of releasing it could potentially have costs beyond simply building and operating the system.  

There are also small boats usually in dugout canoes or hand-crafted boats used to ferry people to some of the islands in the lake. 

With respect to transport cost: Speed boat which carries 10 people is hired at 312 USD from Kibuye to Gisenyi in 1hour and 30 minutes owned by individuals.  

http://www.mininfra.gov.rw 

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List. 

Company Information 

Rwanda is a land-locked and mountainous country, and its transportation system focusses on land infrastructure. The main transport of goods using the Lake Kivu is BRALIRWAs’ beverages from Gisenyi brewing factory to Kibuye as transportation costs with considerable quantity of heavy goods is lower than of road transport. 

For more information on waterway company contact details, please see the following link: 4.4 Port and Waterways Companies Contact. 

Availability 

Rwanda established Kigali Special Economic Zone (KSEZ) as an industrial zone where logistical infrastructure are constructed. Storage facilities are available in the country in various capacities. Facilities in Kigali are more expensive than in most other towns but also more suited as storage facilities. Most storage facilities are privately owned with some few public ones, some of which have been constructed by the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI). Access to storage facilities is limited to trucks. Handling of commodities for loose cargo is mostly manual, and mechanized handling is limited to few bigger storage facilities. The availability of reliable storage varies, depending on utilization by owners of facilities or other clients. 

For more information on storage company contact details, please see the following link: 4.6 Storage and Milling Companies Contact List. 

Commercial Storage 

There are a couple of commercial private storage facilities in Kigali City namely EAX, ZARA, TRANSPAPER, DPWORLD, ADR Millers, ENAS, John Nabirinda, Seminega Jean Bosco, MAGERWA and many other warehouses. Outside of Kigali, well established storage facilities are owned by ENAS in Kirehe District and WIM Ltd in Musanze district. Pembe Flour Mills have established a new flour mill in the town (close to the football stadium) that has clean and secure storage for about 12,000 Mt and space is available for rental should it be required. 

Bollore Logistics also owns 20,000sqm of rentable warehousing; however, it is also acting as a custom bonded warehouse, which is also customs bonded. The average cost of warehouse rent in Kigali is US$5/SQM negotiable. 

Storage Used by Humanitarian Organizations 

WFP Rwanda has a main warehouse facility located in Kigali which covers two compounds and two permanent buildings plus 10 rub halls and is accessible by road transport. Through its partner ADRA, UNHCR is utilizing a warehouse in Gikondo owned by MAGERWA and a Logistics Base at Kicukiro Industrial Park in Gahanga. WFP CO is also providing warehousing through service provision to UNICEF and UNHCR whilst warehouse facilities to MINEMA are provided as a part of capacity strengthening through a Memorandum of understanding.  

Public Sector Storage- Information not available immediately 

Cold Chain 

Rwanda Revenue Authority has a cold chain facility at the airport Cargo section, but capacity is limited as it is the only one in the country which can be used by the public/commercial sector. DP world Kigali is in Cyimo, Masaka, Kigali and its cold storage is 500sqm that enables smarter trade and reduces logistics costs by attracting investment and offering companies new options for their stored imports and exports. DP world has an annual capacity of 50,000 TEUs and 19,000 sqm bonded warehouse capacity making it one of the biggest logistics hubs in East Africa (DP World, 2020). 

 Further, DP World operates cold storage facility for commercial use and exports of agricultural produce through NAEB (National Agriculture Development Export Board).