On Logistics

Where the Road Gets Rough

If sustainability begins on the farm, then logistics is where it gets tested. In East Africa — and particularly along the island edges of the Comoros and Madagascar — supply chains don’t just carry goods. They carry the weight of disconnected infrastructure, bureaucratic hurdles, and historical neglect. What sounds simple on paper — moving vanilla from a coastal village in Madagascar to a wholesaler in Rotterdam — can turn into a logistical labyrinth. From unreliable ferry schedules and aging trucks to overloaded ports and under-resourced customs systems, the route from harvest to market is rarely linear. And almost never efficient. It’s a patchwork system, often dependent on who you know more than what you have. Delays are expected. Cold chains break. Storage is inconsistent. Containers sit in ports for weeks. And for farmers and exporters alike, these delays don’t just mean inconvenience. They mean lost value, lost freshness, lost trust.

Why It Hurts More Here

Geography plays a role, but it’s not the only reason logistics falter in the Comoros and Madagascar. There’s a legacy of underinvestment in ports and inland transport, often due to a global trade system that doesn’t prioritize small exporters or remote regions. These islands are beautiful but logistically 'isolated'. Many rural producers are landlocked within land that meets the sea, but no ships regularly dock nearby. It can take days to move a shipment from a village to a processing hub, and another few weeks before it even boards a vessel. And then there’s the problem of scale. Larger exporters can charter full containers. Smallholders often cannot. That means partial loads, higher costs, and fewer options. Worse, they may rely on freight forwarders who bundle their goods with others, often without transparency about how their products are handled. Air freight? Often the only quick option — but rarely the most affordable, and almost never sustainable.

What Gets Lost in Transit

This isn’t just about inefficiency. It’s about the cumulative impact.Carbon emissions spike when routes zigzag across borders instead of moving directly. Product quality declines with every extra handoff and hour spent unrefrigerated. Trust erodes when buyers can’t count on reliable delivery windows. Profit margins shrink for producers who have to absorb hidden costs. And what does all of this mean for sustainability? It means that even if the farming practices are organic, ethical, and regenerative, the final leg of the journey may undo some of that progress. Because a green farm footprint still leaves a carbon trail if the route is wasteful.

A Case for Smarter, Slower Shipping

Speed is often mistaken for efficiency. But sometimes, the faster route is the one that costs the most — to the environment, to the pocket, to the people.

Sustainable logistics doesn’t just mean more electric trucks or biofuel-powered ships. It means reimagining the entire structure:

• - Fewer cross-border handovers. Less bureaucracy, fewer mistakes.

• - Localized hubs. Small-scale storage and consolidation centers closer to farms.

• - Co-shipping cooperatives. Exporters combining loads for shared containers.

• - Better route design. Not always faster, but less redundant.

• Some of these aren’t high-tech solutions. They’re logistical common sense. And often, they work best in places where technology hasn’t yet filled in the gaps. The key isn’t just to move things faster. It’s to move them more consciously.

What Change Could Look Like

Imagine a spice route rebuilt from the village up. Where the farmer knows not only who will buy their ginger, but also how and when it will ship. Where a coastal hub in Comoros becomes more than a drop-off point — it’s a node in a community-owned chain. Change doesn’t have to be massive to matter. Sometimes, it's just better scheduling. Better sharing. Better communication. Because the goal isn’t perfection. It’s resilience. Sustainability in logistics is still a distant promise in much of East Africa’s archipelagos. But acknowledging that gap — and actively working to close it — is the first step toward something more just. More local. More lasting. The route matters. And how we choose to travel it will shape not just products, but futures.