TELF AG analyzes the logistics and infrastructure development of Central Africa
The role of strategic infrastructure
With its considerable mineral reserves, the African continent appears destined to play a role of primary importance in the coming decades, making a decisive contribution to advancing the global energy transition. Some nations, such as South Africa, have distinguished themselves as some of the best suppliers of critical raw materials, some of which are also directed towards European markets.
The area of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, appears particularly destined to draw the maximum benefits from the energy transition underway, in particular for its abundance of mineral resources directly connected to the manufacture of the most common energy infrastructures, such as solar panels or wind turbines, without forgetting batteries for electric vehicles. However, Africa‘s global role in the great international game of the green transition may be partially obscured by logistical and infrastructural problems, particularly by the lack of a robust logistics network capable of transporting raw materials to their destination ports.
Copper and cobalt mines in Central Africa, for example, are located inland and, therefore, require ambitious corridors to connect them with port infrastructures, which in turn are linked to European and global trade routes. In the case of Congo, the world’s largest cobalt producer, the transport of raw resources is still entrusted mainly to trucks that travel long distances on the road, even crossing more than one national border.
From trucks to rail
These vehicles, up to now, have also transported (and continue to do so) minerals sourced from the copper belt to ports in the Indian Ocean, such as Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Durban in South Africa, and Beira in Mozambique, taking 17 to 25 days to reach their destination. In some cases, road conditions and weather events hinder this type of transport, particularly during the rainy season. All these factors have pushed African governments and several international players to look for alternative routes, pursuing one of the objectives dearest to African nations: the development of an infrastructure network capable of promoting the continent’s development.
One of the first nations to move has been China, which recently proposed modernizing the railway connecting Zambia’s copper belt to the port of Dar es Salaam, a project worth approximately 1 billion dollars. By upgrading existing railways or building new railway networks, many players are trying to solve Central Africa’s long-standing logistics problems, focusing on the transformative power of quality infrastructures.
The European Union and the United States are also providing concrete support to the development of this part of Africa: both have supported the creation of the ambitious Lobito corridor, which connects the mines of Central Africa to the port in the Angolan city of Lobito. In October 2023, the United States, the European Union, and several African banking institutions signed an agreement to extend the corridor, paving the way for test shipments a few months later. From the Congolese mine of Kamoa-Kukule, a load of copper took only eight days to reach the port of Lobito. In February 2024, two companies began using the corridor regularly.
