With a traffic of 25.5 Mt, the Autonomous Port of Lomé continues its momentum in 2020. It shows growth of 15% over this year and consolidates its position as a hub in West Africa. We publish below the analysis of Armand Hounto, consultant of ITrade Partners.

The Autonomous Port of Lomé achieved remarkable performance in 2020 despite covid-19. With a projected global traffic of 25.5 Mt (according to provisional 2020 data), Lomé has shown sustained growth for more than 10 years. Between 2019 and 2020, traffic increased by 15%, thanks in particular to Lomé Container Terminal (Terminal Investment Limited) and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company.

Lomé consolidates its hub position

The Togolese port platform consolidates its status as a regional hub so much so that thanks to transshipment, Togo has become the leading African supplier to Cameroon, which nevertheless has two ports, Douala and the Autonomous Port of Kribi. Many ports in the Gulf of Guinea are served from Lomé, not to mention the hinterland countries. On the modernization side, we note the total dematerialization of the goods collection procedure and the effectiveness of online payment.

The first container port on the west coast of Africa

Today, the Autonomous Port of Lomé stands out as the leading container port and the leading deep-water port on the West African coast. It could catch up with the Autonomous Port of Abidjan (PAA) in terms of overall traffic handled. Indeed, in Ivory Coast, the Autonomous Port of Abidjan amounted to 25.2 Mt in 2019. Lomé will still have to consider the logistical challenge to maintain its distinctive assets.

A relay for MSC

A strategic relay for MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company), the Autonomous Port of Lomé relies in particular on the performance of Lomé Container Terminal. A ranking of the top 120 world ports out of 500 with container activity placed Lomé in 99th position.

Fifth African port

PAL is fifth in the ranking of major container ports according to the daily Lloyd’s List and second in sub-Saharan Africa behind Durban in South Africa. At the African level, Tanger Med retains its first place with 4.8 MEVP. Next comes Port Saïd, in Egypt with 3.8 MEVP, then Durban with 2.7 MEVP. In this ranking follow the ports of Alexandria (1.8 MEVP), Lomé with 1.5 MEVP, Mombasa with 1.4 MEVP and Lagos with 1.3 MEVP. All the ports in the ranking are “millionaires”. To strengthen its position at the heart of growing regional competition, Lomé will have to put in place winning logistics recipes.