Benguela – The revival of the circulation of goods and the facilitation of the mobility of citizens from the central-southern region of Angola – in the East-West directions and vice versa – will initiate new and sure steps, towards the reinforcement of the gradual regional development.
By Augusto Cordeiro
If, in Angola, the Benguela Railway (CFB) helps, fundamentally, in the transport of people and various goods, with emphasis on agricultural products, the railway is of great importance in the flow of ores, exploited in neighboring countries, to Porto do Lobito, from where they head to various world destinations.
In the opposite direction, many of the imports, bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, also have an important infrastructure in the Commercial Port of Lobito, from where they go, via the railway, to other countries.
The path towards that direction will begin with the implementation of the planned agenda, after the signing, on January 27 of this year, of a Tripartite Agreement - Angola, the DRC and Zambia -, 12 years after the start of negotiations among the three countries .
The agreement now signed creates the Lobito Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (LCTTFA).
The rapprochement among its subscribers will allow the landlocked countries in the region, namely Zambia and the DRC, to use again, without constraints, the logistics and transport infrastructures of the Lobito Corridor.
The latter, which serves, fundamentally, for the transport of citizens and the flow of goods, includes the Commercial Port of Lobito, the CFB, the International Airport of Catumbela and roads.
The circulation of minerals, such as copper and cobalt, from the rich mining areas of Katanga (DRC) and Copperbelt (Zambia), to the Commercial Port of Lobito, where they will be exported to the international market, will boost cross-border trade, which will result in an increase in the volume of customs revenues for Angola.
Altogether, the three countries have a global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of approximately US$177 billion, which corresponds to 25 percent of the group of member states of the Southern African Development Conference (SADC).
The impact of the initiative will benefit the populations that the corridor crosses, particularly in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico, in Angola, and in the regions of Kolwezi, Likasi or Lubumbashi, in the DRC, and in Solwezi, Kitwe or Ndola, in Zambia.
Port of Lobito towards development
The Commercial Port of Lobito, in the province of Benguela, is making large investments, focused on creating the conditions to become the Landlord Port, according to its Chairman of the Board of Directors, Celso Rosas.
As a Landlord Port, the Port of Lobito will only take care of public management and the reduced movement of passengers and commercial products, while the private sector will be responsible for port infrastructure, in the form of a concession.
The most recent investments are the electricity connections to the Multipurpose Terminal (general and container cargo), Dry Porto and the Mining Terminal to the public network.
Celso Rosas informed the press that, at the end of last year, a concession contract for the Mineral Terminal was signed with the winning consortium of the Lobito Corridor tender, Trafigura Group Pte Ltd, Vecturis, SA and Mota Engil, Engenharia e Construções Africa , SA.
For this year, as announced, the Port of Lobito will move towards a hybrid management, since it is on the agenda, from the third quarter, to move towards the concession of the Mining Terminal and, later, of the Multipurpose Terminal, passing for the Porto Senhorio management model.
This situation, according to him, will lead the Port Administration to have as its main attributions those of regulating and supervising the activity of the port, playing the role of Port Authority.
“Following the result of our hard work, the Port of Lobito was chosen by the International Maritime Organization, to host the pilot project for the implementation of the Single Maritime Window (JUMA), to facilitate trade in the region, bringing added value to the our Port and many advantages to all those involved in the port activity”, announced the PCA.
With JUMA in operation, all ships that appear in one of the ports belonging to the members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) must submit all their documentation to that platform.
JUMA will also be used by Customs Brokers, Shipping Agencies, the Foreign Emigration Services (SME), the General Port Administration (AGT), Maritime Health and the Tax Police.
The advantage of this project is due to the fact that those involved in port services, mainly shipping agencies, representatives of shipowners and forwarding agents, are all interconnected and no longer use paper documents.
However, other challenges remain to be faced, such as, for example, the definition and stabilization of a new governance model, such as Porto Senhorio, the restructuring and organization of human capital, within the scope of concessions, the implementation and updating of the Data Center, as well as the recovery of customer debt of 27.213 billion kwanzas.
“The good performance of the port activity is highlighted based on the berthing of ships and the tonnage of the products handled, which, during the year 2022, was 326 ships, with a total 1.5 million, said the company’s CEO.
According to data from the Port of Lobito, there was a reduction of 19 percent, in ships, and an increase of five percent, in tons, compared to 2021, the year in which 401 ships were moved and 1. 4 million tons.
Regarding container cargo, there was a reduction, compared to 2021, of around twenty percent in TEUs. It moved 22, 578 in 2022 against 28, 233 in 2021.
The manager of that port company revealed that, last year, it was possible to collect 14.7 billion kwanzas, resulting from the provision of port services.
“Compared to the same period of the previous year (2021), there was a decrease in turnover, in the order of 7.80 percent, with a figure of 15.9 billion kwanzas”, he clarified.
The Angolan State made an important investment, from 2008 to 2012, for the modernization of the Commercial Port of Lobito, with emphasis on the expansion of the pier, construction of new infrastructures, such as the Mining Terminal, the Dry Port, buildings to house offices and machines heavy for cargo handling.
CFB will launch Multiple Diesel Units
The CFB plans to put into circulation, this year, its Multiple Diesel Units, for the transport of passengers, on the Lobito-Benguela section and vice versa.
They are modern vehicles suitable for urban transport, with a capacity to transport 700 passengers per trip, according to the chairman of the Board of Directors, António Cabral.
“This investment was made by the Angolan State, with the objective of improving urban mobility in passenger services”, he stressed.
Taking stock of the 2022 activities, António Cabral revealed that around 2,600 rail journeys were carried out, transporting 965,331 passengers, a number that resulted in an increase of around 30 percent, compared to the previous year.
As for the transport of goods, 276, 829 tons of different products were transported, which represented an increase of around 25 percent, compared to last year.
It is already known that the concession contract for railway services and logistics to support the Lobito Corridor was signed, for a period of 30 years and, in the next, work to implement the said contract will begin to be carried out.
"In this context, the CFB will only be responsible for transporting passengers and small volumes, an action that will require more efforts and a lot of commitment from everyone", underlined the CEO.
The interviewee also spoke about some internal investments, such as the rehabilitation of hospitals in Lobito, Huambo, and the Luau medical center, in Moxico, as well as the acquisition of various types of sewing machines, fabrics and threads for internal production of uniforms.
According to him, a public tender was also launched for the acquisition of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as boots, gloves, goggles and others, not produced internally, in order to equip, above all, workers in the technical areas.
CFB was contemplated with the modernization of its infrastructures, from the 1,344 kilometer railway line, from Lobito (Benguela) to Luau (Moxico), interspersed with 67 stations.
It has a control center, located in Lobito, to interact with trains via the internet, wherever they are, workshops in Huambo and Lobito, as well as importing several General Motors locomotives from the United States.
Strategic corridor for development
With privatized management, for a period of 30 years, through the “Lobito Atlantic Railway” consortium, formed by the companies Vecturis, Trafigura and Mota Engil, the Lobito Corridor integrates the Port of Lobito, the Mineiro Terminal, the Catumbela Airport and the CFB, whose line extends for 1,344 kilometers in length, to Luau, in Moxico.
Given the strategic role for regional economic development, more than USD 2 billion was invested in the rehabilitation and modernization of infrastructure and traffic in the Lobito Corridor, with a view to boosting the transport of various goods, benefiting the three bordering countries.
The Government already has in its portfolio the completion of the feasibility study for the construction of the 259-kilometre line, which will connect Angola to Zambia, starting from the municipality of Ruacano (Moxico), to the border region of Jimbe (Zambia), a process which awaits, until now, the launch of a public tender.
The recovery of the railways in Zambia and DRC is fundamental, to allow their interconnection to the CFB, in the Luau area, on the Angolan border and, with that, revive the transport of ore to Lobito.
Regarding the two main infrastructures of the corridor, namely the Commercial Port of Lobito and the CFB, they prepared themselves to face the challenge that lies ahead, with the increase in cargo movement in the region.
Currently, the hope for growth for Lobito is deposited in the set of public investments in two strategic infrastructures, namely Commercial Port of Lobito and CFB, considered to be part of the main pillars of development in Angola.
In the post-crisis era and, depending on changes in the global economy, Lobito could quickly resume economic growth, taking advantage of the capacity of its logistics infrastructure and maritime and rail transport, modernized with the latest technology.
The Agreement to create the Lobito Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency will accelerate the growth of domestic and cross-border trade, through the implementation of harmonized trade facilitation instruments, strengthening the coordination of joint development activities in the corridor and promoting the effective participation of small and medium-sized companies in value chains, defend the authorities.
The Lobito Corridor presents a strategic alternative route to the Zambian and DRC export markets and offers the shortest route linking the main mining regions of the two landlocked countries.
In Angola, the Corridor connects 40 percent of the country's population and several large-scale investments are under way in agriculture and commerce in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico, regions crossed by the CFB.
The signing of the legal instrument creates a framework for the three SADC Member States to jointly develop harmonized laws, policies, regulations and corridor systems, including the development of infrastructure in a coordinated and consistent manner in line with the SADC Treaty, Protocols and frameworks such as the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020-2030.
History of the Port of Lobito and the CFB
The Commercial Port of Lobito was created by virtue of the Decree of November 28, 1902, in which the then Statesman and President of the Council, Teixeira de Sousa, while King of Portugal D. Carlos I, granted, on behalf of the Portuguese Government , to the English citizen Robert Williams, the contract for the construction and operation of the Railway (CFB, with a duration of 99 years.
Under the terms of the concession, the CFB would link Lobito with the Benguela plateau, heading eastwards, to reach the Luso-Belgian border, where there was production of ores for export.
When work began on the 1st of March 1903 to build the railway, it was also the same period the history of the Port of Lobito started.
The first port work built in Lobito, which provided relevant services for 30 years, was a jetty which, despite its proximity to land, allowed the simultaneous berthing of three long-haul units and two cabotage or shallow draft units, a work that honored the CFB, its builder.
Between 1906 and 1911, in addition to other previous studies, the engineering captain, Sebastião Nunes Matos, and the engineer Carlos Roma Machado, carried out studies related to the port work.
Construction was imperative, taking into account the importance of Lobito as a port for international traffic, to which it would be raised, as soon as the CFB reached the border and the combined service was started, in connection with the railway lines of neighboring countries, after the joining the rails of the former to those of the Katanga Railway (RDC) line.
There were several opinions, from responsible people, as to the location of the port work, until, obeying the study of the 1920 plan, the works were awarded, the following year, to the English firm Pauling & Company, started immediately and ended on 31 January, 1928.
There was a need for a different orientation of the works due to the urgency of their conclusion, in view of the Luso-Belgian convention (Luso-Belgian Convention for the Establishment of Communications between Angola and Congo, current DRC, of 9 April 1918).
Today, the hope for growth for Lobito is deposited in the set of public investments in two strategic infrastructures, namely Commercial Port of Lobito and CFB, considered one of the main pillars of development in Angola.
The railway movement from Lobito (km 0) to Luau (Moxico), over a length of 1,344 kilometers, restarted in 2013, is the highlight of the rehabilitation and modernization of the CFB, which had started in 2006, under the responsibility of the Chinese from CR-20 .
On the side of Zambia and Democratic Congo, there is a need to recover the respective railways, in order to restart ore transport.
The Zambian government, for example, needs to build 300 kilometers of railway line that will connect to the Angolan border, in Luau, where it connects to the CFB.
