Three banks have raised US$272mn to construct a second container terminal at the Abidjan Port in Côte d’Ivoire
According to a Reuters report, the deal to construct the terminal was awarded to a group comprising French industrial firms Bollore and Bouygues, and a subsidiary of the Danish shipping major Maersk.
Souleymane Diarrassouba, director general of West African financial conglomerate Banque Atlantique, said that the bank has raised US$136.21mn, while French bank Societe Generale and Egypt’s Afreximbank have given US$68.1mn each for the construction.
Local reports have stated that the construction is part of a government expansion project worth US$2.5bn, which includes the enlargement of the Vridi Canal and expansion of a minerals unit as well.
The new terminal is expected to boost capacity at the Abidjan Port, which is already one of Africa’s busiest. The port registered a total tonnage surpassing 21mn tonnes in 2013. In 2012, it handled 21.7mn tonnes — a 31 per cent increase from 2011. During this time, container traffic also expanded by 16 per cent to 633,917 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Post expansion, the port can handle 2.25mn TEUs, which would make it West Africa’s largest, in terms of capacity.
