Insights
Trade policy, port briefs, corridor intelligence.
Operator-grade reading on Madagascar, Indian Ocean, and African corridor freight.
Written for forwarders, traders, and operations leads who need to know what changed, what it means for landed cost, and what to tell their buyers. No marketing fluff.
Archive
Trade Intelligence
October 2026 · 8 min read
Vanilla and clove export licences just moved online — what Alalana changes.
Madagascar's Ministry of Commerce launched a single digital portal for export agrément applications on 26 September, ending the era of emailed dossiers and July inbox deadlines. What it does, what it doesn't change, and how to prepare your file.
Port Brief
October 2026 · 8 min read
Ships still wait up to 20 days at Toamasina — the new cranes are only half the fix.
September congestion readings, the C4 berth ramp-up, the new UAFL Comoros–Nacala line, RN2 landside bottlenecks, and October's surcharge calendar for Madagascar's main port.
Disruption Brief
August 2026 · 10 min read
The Indian Ocean is broken. Here's what Madagascar importers need to do about it.
Strait of Hormuz closure, Red Sea attacks, Cape routing, transhipment congestion at Colombo and Indian ports, carrier surcharges, and practical guidance for Madagascar importers navigating disrupted Indian Ocean shipping networks.
Port Brief
August 2026 · 8 min read
Toamasina gets its first quay cranes — and the network around it is shifting.
Madagascar's first ship-to-shore cranes delivered. C4 berth operational with 14,000 TEU capacity. PIL IOX service launched, CMA CGM surcharges, and Hormuz disruption impact on Indian Ocean services.
Trade Policy
August 2026 · 10 min read
AGOA extended through 2028: guidance for Madagascar exporters.
Congress extended AGOA through 31 December 2028. Review eligibility, origin records, and retroactive entry procedures for Madagascar exports.
Logistics
July 2026 · 7 min read
Cold chain logistics in Madagascar: what actually works.
Temperature-controlled shipping for vanilla, seafood, and pharmaceuticals. Infrastructure gaps, monitoring technology, and how to choose a cold chain provider on the island.
Trade Intelligence
July 2026 · 9 min read
The Madagascar vanilla supply chain: from SAVA to global shelves.
How 80% of the world's vanilla gets from northeastern Madagascar farms through curing, grading, CNV regulation, and export to global flavour houses and retailers.
Project Logistics
July 2026 · 8 min read
Mining logistics in Madagascar: moving heavy equipment to remote sites.
Graphite, ilmenite, nickel, and gold operations need oversized equipment shipped to sites with limited road infrastructure. Route planning, bridge surveys, and transport engineering for Madagascar mines.
Port Intelligence
July 2026 · 7 min read
Toamasina port congestion: how to plan around it.
Average dwell times, root causes of delays at Madagascar's main port, and practical strategies forwarders and importers can use to keep cargo moving through congestion.
Export Logistics
July 2026 · 7 min read
Madagascar textile export logistics: EPZ garments to global markets.
How Madagascar's EPZ garment factories ship to EU, US, and African buyers. Container loading, documentation, AGOA alternatives, and lead time management for textile exporters.
Corridor Intelligence
June 2026 · 7 min read
The Lobito Corridor changes the math for copperbelt freight.
The Lobito Corridor cuts copperbelt-to-Atlantic transit from roughly 35 days to about a week. What actually moves, the return-load problem, financing risk to 2027, and how forwarders in Zambia, DRC, and Angola should plan corridor choice.
Trade Policy
June 2026 · 8 min read
AfCFTA in 2026: what actually changed for African forwarders, and what didn't.
Tariff cuts and digital trade protocols are live across a growing list of countries. What genuinely improved for freight forwarders, what stayed broken at the border, and why rules of origin is now the skill that decides margin.
Networks
June 2026 · 8 min read
WCA, JCTrans, Globalia: what African forwarders actually get from global networks.
An honest look at what the directory networks deliver for African forwarders, the real annual cost, where the model underdelivers on the continent, and what to look for in a network or coalition instead.
Port Brief
May 2026 · 6 min read
Toamasina port brief: May 2026.
Vessel rotation, MICTSL terminal status, customs throughput, and corridor-level disruption notes for the operators moving cargo through Madagascar's main port this month.
Trade Policy
May 2026 · 11 min read
China's zero-tariff policy and what it actually changes for Madagascar exporters.
What changed on 1 December 2024 and 1 May 2026, which sectors actually benefit, origin rules, certificate-of-origin documentation, and the Toamasina–China sea freight reality.
Madagascar, Indian Ocean, and African freight intelligence, written for operators.
Ekutano Advisory publishes monthly port briefs on Toamasina, trade-policy analysis on AGOA and the China LDC zero-tariff scheme, and corridor-level intelligence on the Indian Ocean freight lanes connecting Madagascar to the rest of the world. We also track the wider continental picture that African forwarders work in every day: the Lobito Corridor and copperbelt routes, AfCFTA implementation, and what the global freight networks do and do not deliver on the continent. We publish new briefs most weeks. Every one is grounded in operator observation, not desk research.
Topics covered
- Toamasina port operations — congestion, dwell time, MICTSL terminal status
- Madagascar customs clearance — ASYCUDA, DGD procedure, TOR
- AGOA Madagascar — preference status, EPZ garment exports to the US
- China zero-tariff for LDCs — origin rules, certificate of origin
- Indian Ocean freight corridors — Durban, Jebel Ali, Shanghai routings
- Madagascar export logistics — vanilla, seafood, mining, ilmenite, graphite
- Cold chain logistics Madagascar — pharma, perishables, seafood
- African corridors — Lobito, copperbelt routes, Durban, Beira, Walvis Bay
- AfCFTA — tariff schedules, rules of origin, cross-border trade
- Freight forwarder networks in Africa — WCA, JCTrans, coalition models