Biggest dry ports in Africa
A dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road. It speeds the flow of cargo between ships and major land transportation networks, creating a more central distribution point. Africa has some massive such key economic entry points that are enhancing trade between countries. Here are the biggest dry ports according to Logistics World:
1. City Deep (Gauteng, South Africa)
City Deep terminal is the largest dry port and was officially opened in 1977.The container terminal is connected to the ports of Durban, Ngqurha and Cape Town as well as Southern Africa by road and rail. At least 40 per cent of containers run on the Natal Corridor which is directly linked by rail to City Deep. The Terminal has just over 3,000 Terminal Ground Slots (TGS), with less than 100 of them meant for refrigerated containers. The throughput capacity of the port is estimated at a minimum of 400,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) per annum.
2. TCT (Tema, Ghana)
The Port of Tema is widely recognised by shipping lines as the best performing container port in West and Central Africa. The port handles 80 per cent of Tema’s annual container volume. In 2017, the Port reached maximum capacity and a $1 billion (Sh103.8 trillion) investment in infrastructure, equipment and manpower training was initiated, to provide additional container handling capacity.
3. Mombasa Container Terminal-ICD (Kenya)
The Container Terminal at the Port of Mombasa has a capacity of 1.1 million TEUs. The Container Operations Department works 24/7 and is aided in its operations by a Terminal Operations System that enables prompt documentation for quick and effective cargo handling. The container terminal boasts 1,788 workers in all cadres, mostly housed in the One Stop Centre together with all government agencies involved in the cargo business.
4.TRCB Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)
Two-thirds of freight transiting through Boborinter (mainly from Abidjan) is destined for Mali and a third for Bobo-Dioulasso, with traffic to Niger, Ghana and even Togo being more variable and marginal. Installed on 19 hectares in an industrial zone, the dry port extends along the railroad, to three kilometres of the airport and near the future peripheral boulevard.
5. Kagbelen (Guinéa Conakry)
Kagbélen is a town in the commune of Dubréka. It is located on the outskirts of Conakry. It is an industrial city with notably the cement factory of Guinea. It has a Dry Port which, when connected to the Autonomous Port of Conakry, receives containers through the railway. The creation of a dry port of Kagbelen a few kilometres from Conakry, with direct links to the road and rail networks, brings a new multimodal hub serving the corridors to Mali and Burkina Faso
6. APM Terminals- Bamako (Mali)
APM Terminals Mali has a dry port strategically located in Bamako, the country’s main regional trade centre and close to the country’s main river port. The facility has an estimated space of 20,000 square metres and is connected by two railway lines to the international network. It holds 1,100 TEUs static capacity with a variety of other service offerings on the side including; freight management, warehousing and trucking.
7. Kaduna Inland Dry Port Ltd(Nigeria)
Kaduna Inland Dry Port Ltd was commissioned by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2017 to operate as a port of origin and destination. The company provides port-related services to the northern shippers and positioned to receive import consignment direct from various ports and serves as a platform to forward export goods from the port of origin to various destinations abroad. The 40,000 square metres facility has a capacity to handle 29,000 tonnes of containers yearly.
8. Bangui Terminal (Central African Republic)
Bolloré Port handles goods from the Congo and Oubangui rivers. We also carry out the transport of any type of goods between Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo) and Kinshasa (DRC).With a capacity container yard of 5,000 square metres, it handles annually at least 5,000 containers/TEUS. It has five hoisters which are estimated 42 metres in length, one well stocked naval repair shop and a large weighbridge. Customs clearance and on- site delivery is a big fixture over here as it serves even neighbouring states. The Bangui Terminal has 10 push-tugs with a maximum 1,200 High Pulls and 50 barges at site.
9. Modjo Dry Port (Ethiopia)
Located 61 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, Modjo dry port currently handles 80 per cent of the country’s import-export market along the Ethiopia-Djibouti trade corridor. Modjo dry port is Ethiopia’s first dry port development. An expansion project is also underway at the Modjo dry port on 138 hectares of land with $150 million (Sh15.5 billion) courtesy of the World Bank. An additional five ports are also coming up in Hawassa, Dire Dawa, Mekelle, Kombolcha and Wereta towns which are found along the route leading to the Port of Djibouti.
10. Port of Nouakchott (Mauritania)
Port de l’Amitié, Nouakchott (PANPA) is advantageously located at the crossroads of the routes connecting Africa, Europe and America, and is one of the leading public commercial ports in the south Sahara for ships sailing from Europe. Handling performance at the Port of Nouakchott generally ranges from 1,200 to 2,500 tonnes a day for bagged cargo, and three containers an hour. Unloading accounts for 95 per cent of traffic. The overall potential traffic capacity is 1 million tonnes.
