Politics
Abidjan port aims for regional supremacy
The competition department of the Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest-Africaine is still investigating the tender won in March 2013 by Bolloré’s consortium, which includes France’s Bouygues and APM Terminals.
Monopoly row
In May, CMA CGM’s consortium called for an annulment of the bid and made an appeal to Côte d’Ivoire’s public procurement authority. After the regulator dismissed the appeal, the group brought the case to the West African economic body, citing irregularities in the pre-selection procedure, non-compliance with competition laws and an arbitrary award process.
Commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon also denounced the monopoly created by the deal and advised that Bolloré should not have been allowed to bid because it controls the first terminal. CMACGM decided to drop the challenge in July, but its partners have not withdrawn their complaint.
Despite criticism from many economic operators, who are worried about high costs due to the lack of competition, the government said in January the new terminal will improve the harbor’s competitiveness and lower the prices by as
much as 40%.
Among the other projects included in the upgrade of the Abidjan port, the minerals terminal will be expanded to meet demand from the booming mining sectors in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. The port authorities aim to handle 3 million tons of minerals, including manganese and zinc, by 2020; up from 300,000 tons currently.
In addition, China Harbor Engineering will also enlarge the Vridi Canal to enable larger ships to dock. The works, due to last three years, are supposed to start this year. In the meantime, the western port of San Pedro, the country’s main port for cocoa exports, also aims to expand and boost its traffic by increasing trans-shipments and attracting cotton and cashew exports away from the port of Abidjan.
The port has forecast that its traffic will rise 31% in 2013 to 4.2 million tons from 3.2 million tons a year earlier. Trans-shipments were set to increase to 2.8 million tons from 1.9 million tons in 2012. The harbor has begun to ship cotton from Mali and handled 21,000 tons of the commodity last year while boosting exports of cashews to 17,000 tons from 2,000 tons recorded in 2012. The port authorities target a goal of 4.55 million tons of goods in 2014, and as much as 10 million tons in 2015.
