Brazzaville’s Port

For thirty years, lack of investment has thwarted Brazzaville’s effort of having its port regaining its dynamism of old. According to the director of the Terminaux du bassin du Congo (TBC), Congo Basin Terminals, less than 100 000 tons presently transit at this port daily. Since 1 December 2014, the French group subsidiary Necotrans is operator of ports concession for a period of 15 years with the aim of tripling its flow of goods.

In recent years, the country has decided to focus on its capacity as the second largest river basin in the world (after the Amazon) in order to become a major logistic platform for the entire sub region. IN 2009 the State happily welcomed the French Bolloré Africa Logistics and its Congolese associate Socotrans. It is in the same vein that the Congolese government launched the rehabilitation of the Brazzaville port, for which it handed the management for the first time to the private sector. Supported by development partners, the State disbursed about 50 Billion CFAF (more than 76 Million Euros) for the renovation of the Brazzaville Autonomous Port as well as other secondary ports in the country.

Optimizing River Congo

For River Congo to play its role as a major traffic route and meet the traffic of wood (downstream) and food or petroleum products (upstream), neighbouring countries have to work together to improve on its navigability.

At the Brazzaville port, about 14.6 Million Euros have been invested by TBC for the rehabilitation of warehouses, while the Chinese Sino Hydro is preparing to hand over, in the first quarter of 2016, a brand new wharf of more than 1Km long. This lake formed on the river and the two capitals bordering it, therefore has the potential of re-becoming a reference port for the entire Pool Malebo while waiting for the arrival of a new terminal, adapted to suit market trends in Maloukou a little further upstream of the river.