<
https://theconversation.com/dr-congos-riverboat-economy-how-a-floating-transport-system-tells-the-countrys-story-288941>
"Road transportation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has received much
scholarly attention. Some studies have examined the urban landscape. Others
have studied transportation in the context of armed conflict in the east of the
country, where roadblocks are a pronounced feature.
The Congo Basin’s inland waterways, of which 25,000km are classified as
navigable, have been studied with regard to the taxation regime of larger
pushboat-barge convoys. The less far-reaching scale of small- and medium-scale
river transportation, however, so far has been less studied. This is despite
the overwhelming reliance of cities such as Kinshasa, Mbandaka and Kisangani on
these smaller craft.
A significant part of the traffic on these waterways is handled today by wooden
cargo ships called baleinières (literally “whaleboats” in English). Measuring
between 20 and 40 metres in length, these locally developed, handcrafted
vessels connect the ever-growing cities with crop-producing communities in the
rainforest hinterlands along distant fertile riverbanks.
Baleinières have been the focus of my ongoing research, centred mainly on the
city of Kisangani in DR Congo’s Tshopo province. I have been interested in the
emergence, transformation, materials and socio-technical realities of these
handmade watercraft, their propulsion system and their crews. I have also paid
attention to the systemic character of their artisanal infrastructure and its
reliance on traditional environmental knowledge.
Wooden baleinières date back to the early 1960s. But since the 1990s they have
been crucial to the reinvention of a transport system across the Congo Basin.
These wooden ships ensure the food security of central Africa’s riverine
cities, including the continent’s third-largest city, Kinshasa. They also
connect the national capital to many of the country’s provinces.
Owing to a lack of statistics and limited research to date, reliable figures
are available only for Kisangani, a city of two million at the upper end of the
navigable Congo river. Here, about 80 baleinières arrive in the private
secondary ports of the city every month, each carrying an average of 150 tons
of goods and around 150 passengers.
Kinshasa, a city of 17 million, is estimated to welcome several hundred
baleinières every month."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
