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2012 June 15 15:30
Ivory Coast's San Pedro port seeks $230 mln to expand
Ivory Coast's port of San Pedro, a leading export point for cocoa beans, is seeking $230 million from private investors connected to the Port of Antwerp International (PAI) to fund expansion plans, a port official said, Reuters reports.
The two shipping hubs signed a partnership agreement last year aiming to develop 2,000 hectares of unused property near San Pedro's current terminal. PAI is due to draw up a master plan for the port and carry out studies on the infrastructure and operations.
The company, a subsidiary of Antwerp's port authority, will help find investors for the project, Guy Manouan, commercial and marketing director for the port of San Pedro, said on Thursday.
"In the three years to come, we will need around 120 billion CFA francs ($230.4 million) for the expansion and the berths," he told Reuters.
"Through the use of their network, the port of Antwerp is going to bring us investors to finance the development of the port," he said.
San Pedro is Ivory Coast's second port after Abidjan, the top cocoa grower's commercial capital.
More than 522,000 tonnes of cocoa beans, roughly half of export volumes, passed through San Pedro last year, up from 435,000 in 2010. It is also an exit point for natural resources such as rubber and timber.
Both Ivorian ports aims to increase container traffic.
The port of Abidjan plans to nearly triple annual container capacity to 2.3 million units by 2016 to keep up with regional competitors following a decade of neglect, its director said last week.
Nearly half of all container traffic between Europe and Africa, around 10 million tonnes of freight, flowed through the port of Antwerp in 2011. One tenth of that traffic was with Ivorian ports.