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Bollore To Invest 97 Mln Euros To Develop Dakar Port Terminal
General view of the industrial port of Dakar in this roof-top view in this file photo.
29/11/2013
DAKAR/ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Bollore Africa Logistics said it had won a contract to develop and operate a Dakar port facility, used mainly to import vehicles, and pledged to invest 97 million euros over 25 years.
The subsidiary of French industrial group Bollore signed the agreement with the Autonomous Port of Dakar on Thursday to run a roll-on/roll-off terminal, which allows cars and other wheeled cargo to be offloaded directly onto the dock.
The company's president, Dominique Lafont, told Reuters it was awarded the contract after negotiations ended between Senegal authorities and Italy-based logistics firm Grimaldi Group.
"The strong engagement of Bollore Africa Logistics in the port of Dakar demonstrates our desire to make Dakar's roll-on/roll-off terminal one of the best performers in West Africa," Lafont said in a statement.
The company plans to extend the existing terminal by 165 metres and deepen it to 10.5 metres in order to accommodate larger vessels. A new 30,000 square metre parking area will also be built.
Bollore is a well established player in the port and transportation sectors of French-speaking Africa, including operating the national rail companies of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Cameroon and managing a dozen container terminals.
Earlier this year, a consortium led by Bollore won a hotly contested tender to operate a second container terminal to be built at the port of Abidjan, Francophone West Africa's busiest port, pledging investments of nearly $600 million.
In Dakar in 2007, it lost out to Emirati marine terminal operator DP World for the right to operate Dakar's container terminal.
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