Senegalese truckers are calling for a halt to trips to Bamako, Moroccan operators have grown more cautious, and the Guinea-Mali corridor is experiencing disruptions. For weeks, several major road arteries vital to Mali’s supply have faced serious difficulties.

The difficulties on multiple corridors serving Mali are beginning to change regional carriers’ habits. Behind the calls to suspend certain journeys and the worries voiced by professional organizations, the disruptions on trade routes are now affecting freight costs, delivery times, and the organisation of the logistics chains linking Bamako to its main trading partners.

As a landlocked country, Mali relies heavily on regional road transport. The Dakar-Bamako corridor remains one of the main entry points for Malian imports. In 2024, about 2.6 million tonnes of goods destined for Mali transited through the port of Dakar, underscoring the economic weight of this axis in the country’s supply chain. Security concerns are now translating into concrete decisions by carriers. In Senegal, the Union of Truckers reports that at least eleven Senegalese lorries operating on Malian routes have been set on fire in recent weeks. Professional organisations have called on drivers to reduce or suspend certain trips, judging that the risks are becoming economically unsustainable.

The incident of 6 May heightened these concerns. Several commercial convoys were attacked on the route linking the Mauritanian border to Bamako. According to Moroccan union officials, more than fifteen trucks from Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania were targeted by armed groups. At least six Moroccan heavy goods vehicles were burned.

This event also had repercussions in Morocco, where many road transport operators are now more cautious about trips to Mali. For transport companies, the calculations are changing rapidly: higher insurance premiums, vehicle immobilisation, increased security costs and more detours are reducing margins on already long and expensive journeys.

The Guinea-Mali corridor is no longer spared from disruptions. Since the attacks reported in late April on this major commercial artery, the movement of goods and people has been significantly slowed. Yet this route plays an important role in Mali’s logistics diversification, particularly via the port of Conakry. The difficulties observed on this road are limiting the alternatives available when other corridors are under strain.

The consequences now extend beyond transport companies alone. On several axes, drivers are prolonging waiting times before departure, some convoys travel in groups, and families remain without news of relatives who have been on the road for days. For economic operators, each interruption increases storage costs, delays deliveries and slows trade. When several corridors are simultaneously disrupted, it is the supply of the Malian market, regional logistics timelines and cross-border economic activity that directly suffer the effects of these difficulties.

Three years after the security reorientation by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – marked by a distancing from several Western partners and a rapprochement with Russia – security challenges continue to weigh on the Sahel. The difficulties now increasingly affect regional trade and traffic on key commercial axes. The repercussions are felt well beyond the borders of the Alliance of Sahel States: transport organisations in Senegal, Moroccan operators and Mauritanian truckers are expressing major concerns about the risks on certain Malian roads.