The port of Antwerp has decided to invest into the expansion of West African port of San Pedro, Côte d’Ivoire, as it agreed with the port to collaborate on the expansion plans over the next few years.
Work on construction of a logistics platform under the name of San Pedro Logistique is set to start next year, and will be undertaken by the Belgian group Sea-Invest, Antwerp said.
The overall project price is set at EUR 5.5 million, 35% of which will be financed by Port of Antwerp International (PAI), the consultancy and investment subsidiary of Antwerp Port Authority.
The platform is expected to be operational around the summer period of next year.
In 2011 the ports of San Pedro and Antwerp signed a collaboration agreement and since then the freight volume handled by San Pedro has expanded to 4.9 million tonnes annually.
The parties have now signed a new five-year Memorandum of Understanding.
In addition to supplying the necessary technical expertise for the development, the agreement also specifies that APEC, the training centre for the port of Antwerp, will hold two training seminars per year for San Pedro port personnel.
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