Port of Antwerp invests in San Pedro

The Belgian port has entered into an agreement with the Ivory Coast to help with the expansion of port logistics operations at San Pedro.

   The Port of Antwerp in Belgium has entered an agreement with the Ivory Coast to help with the expansion of port logistics operations at San Pedro.
   San Pedro is known as one of the leading cocoa ports in the world, but seeks to become a logistics hub to handle other commodities such as fertilizer and cashew nuts.
   Part of the capital cost for the development at San Pedro will be financed by Port of Antwerp International (PAI), the consultancy and investment subsidiary of Antwerp Port Authority.
   “This is the first concrete investment by the port of Antwerp in West Africa,” said Eddy Bruyninckx, chief executive officer of the Antwerp Port Authority, in a statement. “With this clear commitment, we are emphasizing our belief in the potential of San Pedro.”
   The two port authorities have been working together since 2011. Since then, freight volume handled by San Pedro has expanded to 4.9 million tons annually, and a master plan for development of the port has been drawn up, logistics zones have been developed and mutual promotion has been completed, the Port of Antwerp said.
   The Belgian group Sea-Invest, which already operates in the Ivory Coast at the Port of Abidjan, will take the lead for developing the San Pedro logistics platform. Sea-Invest this week presented its plans for the new platform, construction of which is scheduled to begin early next year. The overall cost for the project is 5.5 million euros (about $6.2 million USD), of which 35 percent will be financed by PAI.