The installation of two new cranes at the port of Luanda, Angola’s most important port, has reduced  waiting time for ships by around 80 percent.

Alberto António Bengue, Luanda Port Company’s commercial, safety and environmental director, says, “The waiting time has fallen from 16 days in 2008 to three days last year, which compared well with the 2.5 days average wait at the container port in Durban, South Africa.”

Container traffic in Luanda has more than doubled over the last five years to 912,900 in 2013, or around a third of the number handled in Durban.

Bengue adds, “A new port is planned for the Barra do Dande area, 50 kilometres to the north of the current port of Luanda, which would make it possible to challenge South Africa as the main entry point into countries such as Zambia.”

The port of Luanda processes around 80 percent of the cargo sent to Angola, which imports most of the industrial products it consumes. Of the 11.3 million tons of cargo that reached the country in 2013, around 70 percent arrived in containers and the remaining 30 percent in bulk.

Source – macauhub