Bollore aims to double Abidjan port capacity by 2015
French industrial conglomerate Bollore plans to spend up to $79 million by 2015 to double capacity at the container terminal it manages at Ivory Coast's main port of Abidjan, reported Reuters.
Once an economic motor for French-speaking West Africa, Ivory Coast is recovering from a decade of political turmoil and has launched an ambitious development plan focused heavily on renewing long-neglected infrastructure.
"We will again make a significant investment to double the capacity to process ships.We plan to invest US$79.30 million," said Dominique Lafont, head of the group's Africa division said.
Lafont said Bollore has already invested heavily in Abidjan's container terminal since the start of its partnership with the port in 2004.
New upgrades will include four new cranes, which will permit the simultaneous servicing of three ships.
The improvements are expected to increase the terminal's transit capacity from 800,000 to 1.5 million containers annually.
The port is already one of the region's principal shipping hubs. The bulk of top grower Ivory Coast's cocoa exports passes through Abidjan, as do around 60 percent of goods entering and exiting land-locked Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
However, Abidjan lost ground to regional competitors over the past decade due to an intermittent conflict that discouraged outside investments and froze development until it ended after a brief war last year.
The port authority opened bidding in June for the construction and management of a second container terminal with a 1.5 million container capacity expected to be completed in 2016.
Around 20 shipping companies, including AP Moller-Maersk, MSC and France's CMA-CGM, submitted bids.
"We are now studying the bids of the different candidates," Transportation Minister Gaoussou Toure said.
Ivory Coast's second port of San Pedro, a leading export point for cocoa beans, announced earlier this year that it is seeking $230 million from private investors connected to the Port of Antwerp to fund expansion plans.
