“Container terminal number two (TC2) is a modern productive tool, at the forefront of port handling intended to be a real sub-regional hub,” explained Madina Alliali Yankalbé, the financial manager of Côte d’Ivoire-terminal, the company managing the new facility. “We can now accommodate all the largest ships in the world,” she said during a presentation of the new terminal which will be officially inaugurated in November.
At a cost of 400 million euros, the construction of TC2 was financed by the autonomous port of Abidjan and a consortium made up of the French groups Bolloré Africa Logistics and Bouygues, as well as the Danish port operator APM Terminals (Maersk ). The terminal was built on 35.5 hectares of area, is equipped with six gantries and 36 electric riders. Its advertised capacity is 1.5 million TEUs, the same as that of the historic terminal. The TCS has a quay length of 1,100 meters and a draft of 18 meters, sufficient to accommodate the largest container ships currently in service.
800,000 EVP per year
Some 800,000 TEUs are handled each year at the port of Abidjan, which has experienced average annual growth of 12% since 2012, driven by agricultural products, as well as major infrastructure works carried out in the country.
The traffic of the port of Abidjan, the economic lung of Côte d’Ivoire, providing 90% of its foreign trade, “increased in 2021 by 11.7% to reach 28.3 million tonnes”, announced its director general. , Hien Sie.
“The prospects are very good for 2022”, he continued, stressing that traffic to countries in the region without a seafront (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) and whose goods pass through the port of Abidjan , also rose “by 23% overall”.
Côte d’Ivoire mainly exports agricultural products, cocoa in the lead, but also bananas, rubber, cotton, mango, papaya, copra, cashew nuts.