DP World to develop Greenfield Port in DRC

DP World has won a 30-year concession - extendable by another 20 years - for the management and development of a greenfield multi-purpose port project at Banana, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The joint venture will have DP World with 70% controlling, and the government of DRC holding a 30% share, to manage and invest in the Port of Banana. The first phase at an estimated initial investment of $350 million, will include a 600-metre quay and 25-hectare yard extension with a container capacity of 350,000 TEUs and 1.5 million tonnes for general cargo. Construction is expected to start in 2018 and will take about 24 months to complete.

$350 million is the first of four phases with the total project cost of more than $1 billion. However, the project will be implemented based on current and future market demand for the port, industrial and logistics zone infrastructure. The development gives the Democratic Republic of the Congo the opportunity to be connected into global trade lanes, to have access to a wide range of global markets and to reduce its dependency on the neighbouring countries’ ports.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, said: “We are delighted to extend our African footprint further with a major investment in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, which is Africa’s third-most populous country but has no direct deep-sea port. Investment in this deep-water port will have a major impact on the country’s trade with significant cost and time savings, attracting more direct calls from larger vessels from Asia.

“We are confident that this investment will deliver attractive returns to shareholders over the longer-term and we look forward to bringing DP World’s world class productivity-enhancing, security, safety and environmental best practices in container terminal development and operation to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”