A KEY PORT FOR THE WEST AFRICAN SUB-REGION

Activités portuaires Friday 28 April 2023

Côte d'Ivoire has recorded dynamic, strong and stable economic growth since 2012, despite the slowdown due to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in 2020. Our country remains the driving force of a resilient West African economy, and exerts a palpable economic influence in the ECOWAS zone.

The Abidjan Port remains the main pillar of Côte d'Ivoire's foreign trade. It has received special attention from the Ivorian government which, since 2012, through the implementation of the 2012-2015 and 2016-2020 National Development Plans (NDP), has authorized a major infrastructure development program of more than 1,500 billion CFA francs.

The stated objective of these programs was to provide the Abidjan Port platform with modern facilities, to bring it into line with international maritime transport standards, to consolidate its sub-regional leadership and to position it sustainably as a hub port on Africa’s Atlantic coast.

Thanks to that vision of the government and the Port Authority, the Abidjan Port now has undeniable assets that will further enhance its positioning and its sub-regional and continental competitiveness.

Thus, when sailing to the Abidjan Port, one can expect to use a resized Vridi canal (inaugurated in February 2019), widened from 250 m to 350 m, with a permissible draught of 16 m and 18 m at the entrance pass, which now allows large container ships and conventional vessels to be received without any length limitation with a draught of 16 meters.

Large trawlers can now dock at the new fishing terminal (inaugurated in September 2015), which has 960 m of additional quays with draughts up to 13 m.

This 8.2-hectare mole responds to the numerous requests from operators in the fishing sector and includes 5 hectares of new industrial units.

Economic, logistical and port operators, to develop their activities, have 40 hectares of industrial land at their disposal, acquired through refilling.

The Abidjan Port is also and above all its second container terminal.

The terminal multiplies by 2.5 the container handling capacity of the Abidjan Port, which goes from 1 million TEUs/year to 2.5 million TEUs/year. In addition, it can now receive ships that can carry 14,000 TEUs compared to 3,500 TEUs previously.

That terminal, which will be putting into service in November 2022, has been awarded the "Green Terminal" label because its container handling and processing equipment (quayside gantries, park gantries, loading trucks) is powered by green energy, in particular electricity.

It is a first-rate asset for the Abidjan Port, which can calmly face up to sub-regional competition by positioning itself as the leader of the West African Coast (COA) and a reference Hub Port on the Atlantic coast of Africa.

In addition to these achievements, important projects are also underway. These include the construction of the new grain terminal, the modernization of the bulk terminal and that of the fruit terminal.

With these major assets, the Abidjan Port is embarking on a decisive offensive in its repositioning strategy.

It should also be noted that regulatory and administrative measures support these infrastructural achievements with a view to an integrated accompaniment of port operations aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the port. These include:

- strengthening and rationalizing commercial actions towards ship-owners, traders, national port operators and the hinterland;

- contributing to the increase in the performance of the railways;

- the reinforcement of road fluidity on the corridors;

- ensuring better quality/price ratio of operations;

- the performance of towing and stevedoring operations;

- the creation of logistics platforms outside the existing port perimeter.

The respect of security, environmental and sustainable development requirements also aims to bring the port up to international standards in terms of environment, security and safety.

All these measures contribute to making the Abidjan Port a privileged, safe and attractive destination.

The Abidjan Port is now not only better equipped to sustainably support the booming national economy, but is also positioned as a tool to support the development of the entire West African sub-region.