MSC, and CMA CGM: Efforts of Shipping Giants to Conquer African
The three maritime behemoths are making significant investments in African ports and inland logistics. Since these markets are highly competitive and fragmented despite requiring much less capital.
The coast of Côte d’Ivoire is home to two container ports: Abidjan. Which services a portion of the landlocked Sahel region, and San Pedro. In addition to its extensive beaches and miles of wind-beaten coconut trees.
the largest exporter of cocoa in the world. These two crucial facilities have been under the control of the Swiss-Italian firm MSC since 2022. After hasty negotiations.
African
The very profitable African logistics operations of the Bolloré Group were acquired by the largest shipping corporation in the world for the reasonable amount of €5.7 billion.
The agreement allowed MSC, which already ran the port of San Pedro, to take control of the two terminals in Abidjan and gain a monopoly over containers in this important West African nation.
The same outcome attained farther east in the Gulf of Guinea, in Lomé, Togo, where MSC currently runs the hub’s two container terminals and just risen to the top spot in the sub-region.
The Geneva-based company now has a new status across the continent as a result of this acquisition. With its subsidiaries TIL for terminals and Medlog for logistics, MSC has 8,000 employees throughout Africa.
At the time of the acquisition, Bolloré Africa Logistics (BAL; renamed AGL for Africa Global Logistics) employed 21,000 people. The firm has grown from 2 to 18 container terminals, a vital development for better serving its ships and managing expenses. This includes Abidjan, Lomé, but also Dakar, Freetown, and Pointe-Noire.
A significant transportation route for the Sahel region, the railroad connecting Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, as well as a number of dry ports and warehouses, comprising 70,000 square meters of dry and cold storage in Côte d’Ivoire alone, also taken.
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