COTE D’IVOIRE: An initiative to create an African Ports Connectivity Portal, funded by the Beijing-based Multilateral Co-operation Centre for Development Finance (MCDF) aims to improve data collection and connectivity among the continent’s ports.

ANGOLA: Having signed an agreement to undertake their first port development project in Angola some five years ago, Toyota Tsusho Corporation has committed to the delivery of four vessels which will be delivered in the first quarter of 2025.

SOUTH AFRICA: It is critical that skills training and development keep pace with the speed of technological evolution in the maritime sector, or the sector will be handicapped. This was the message from several speakers during a dedicated Maritime Session at the Southern African Transport Conference held last week. 

THE GAMBIA: The Government of The Gambia and the Gambian Port Authority have signed an agreement with the Turkish Port Operator, Albayrak, to rehabilitate the Port of Banjul and develop a new deep sea port in Sanyang.

SOUTH AFRICA: A New Generation Ultra Large Container Vessel, the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, has reported loss of 44 containers overboard having experienced inclement weather off the north-eastern coast of South Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA: Ongoing severe weather conditions that have ravaged the Western Cape this week are not helping the unfolding situation to salvage an abandoned general cargo vessel that is now beached in the remote coastal area of Duiwegat.

WEST AFRICA: A project aimed at promoting the sustainability transition of West and Central Africa ports saw the recent piloting of a benchmarking programme at the Ports of Tema in Ghana and Abidjan in Côte D’Ivoire that prioritises the measurement of waste management, air quality, energy efficiency and coastal erosion.