The first vessel has docked at the mineral terminal of the Port of Lobito, operated by the Lobito Atlantic Railway  consortium, the concession holder for the operation, management and maintenance of the railway linking Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The MV Lindsaylou, a bulk cargo vessel loaded with 40,500 tonnes of sulphur, docked on Friday 12 July, marking the beginning of port operations for LAR.

The vessel was loaded in Qatar and arrived in Lobito after a journey of around a month. The unloading and storage of the cargo is being carried out entirely with local labour and equipment sourced from Angola. Unloading operations are following required environmental and safety procedures, including using two automatic hoppers designed and manufactured in Angola.

The cargo, first stored at the mineral terminal in bags, will then be placed on LAR international cargo trains bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo to support refined copper production by mining companies based in the Katanga area.

Francisco Franca, President of the Board of Directors of LAR, commenting on the arrival of the first ship and the start of mineral terminal port operations said: “This marks the final step in bringing together all of the logistics required to operationalise and develop LAR to its full potential.” He added that “LAR reaffirms its commitment to the most important logistics corridor in the region and to increasing the volumes of railway and port operations to achieve the strategic objectives of the Government of Angola in this important corridor of regional economic development.”

The start of LAR’s port operations comes after rehabilitation work was carried out following the start of railway operations in January this year. These works have so far allowed the circulation of 1,800 trains – including passenger and freight trains (national and international) – with two international freight trains each week travelling from the DRC to the Port of Lobito and around 50 domestic freight trains each month. It is expected that in the future, after the planned investments have been made, six international freight trains will be in transit each day.

The project to refurbish the railway line represents an investment of more than USD800 million over the lifetime of the concession. The investment will enable the renovation of sections of the railway line and associated infrastructure, in addition to investment for wagons and locomotives. A financing package, which includes a potential investment by the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), is currently under discussion. LAR has already started investment with the purchase of rolling stock and the start of maintenance work on the existing line.

Currently more than 650 workers are employed by the consortium, focused on maintenance and improvement operations on the line from Lobito to Luau at the DRC border and on the mineral terminal.