Togo: Overall traffic at the port of Lomé slumps by 6% in H1 2022

Logistics

Friday, 14 October 2022 14:44

Togo: Overall traffic at the port of Lomé slumps by 6% in H1 2022

(Togo First) - Traffic at the port of Lomé slumped by 6% over the first six months of this year, according to official sources.

Though Togolese authorities did not explain the decline, it could be due to higher freight costs worldwide, pushed by inflation, the Ukrainian war, plus the disruption of production tools and logistics chains. Indeed, these various factors caused economic operators to postpone their investment and shipping decisions.

The port of Lomé is the only deep-water port, in West Africa, where large ships dock for coastal shipping to other ports. Also, it is the leading platform for transshipment in the Gulf of Guinea. Last year, transshipment accounted for nearly 70% of the volumes handled at the port’s terminals. Thus, the decrease in overall traffic could also be due to a decline in transshipment activity

The decrease could also be viewed as a correction of 2021, a record year for the port of lomé as the global economy recovered strongly that year. Lomé Container Terminal, a subsidiary of MSC, which operates the main container terminal, said that it achieved a record 1,128,978 containers in 2021; the figure equals 1,635,620 TEUs handled. Overall, the Port itself had broken its records in all segments: transit, import-export, and transshipment.

It should be noted that while overall traffic at the port of Lomé fell in the first half of 2022, volumes of goods shipped and received rose by 10.8% and 19.3%, respectively, over the same period.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

REFORMS OVERVIEW

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Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

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