Port of Antwerp (PAI) announced that it has signed the agreements to enroll the management of the Port de Cotonou in Benin, on January 10. The deal closed after the Port of Antwerp agreed with the Port of Cotonou, to temporarily manage the later, back in December.
Port of Antwerp aims to modernise the port of Cotonou. This port crucial for Benin, handling an annual freight volume of around 12 million tonnes.
The port authority wanted the port to grow further, but both the infrastructure and the organization were outdated. As a result, the government of Benin decided to outsource the management of the port, so that a reformed port authority could fully compete with the surrounding ports. After a selection procedure and negotiations, an agreement with PAI was reached.
“We are delighted that the Benin government has opted for the expertise and knowhow of Antwerp. With our subsidiaries APEC and PAI we have been working for a long time on the passing on and sharing of knowledge and experience, in order to strengthen the worldwide network of our port and to ensure that Antwerp is and remains top of mind at the international level of decision makers in the maritime world,” port alderman Marc Van Peel, and chairman of PAI, noted.
