Improved access to port of Abidjan
The expanded and deepened Vridi Canal (Ivory Coast) was recently inaugurated. The waterway connects the port of Abidjan and the Atlantic via the Ebrié Lagoon.
The China Harbor Engineering Company required three years to complete the work that resulted in a wider and deeper channel to accommodate containerships with a 16 m draft and a 10,000 teu capacity. Beforehand only 3,500 teu vessels drawing 12 m could enter the port.
The port enhancement project will be completed in 2020, when a second container terminal, attributed to Bolloré, commences operations. More infrastructure plans are in place: they include terminals for vehicles and cereals and the modernisation of fruit and mineral terminals.
The overall cost of all these developments exceeds EUR 1.5 billion, 85% of which will be financed by the state through a loan from China Exim Bank. (kd)