Africa-Press – Angola. Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR), the consortium managing the Lobito Corridor, which includes the Portuguese company Mota-Engil, has a new chairman of the board of directors, Frenchman Nicolas Fournier, the administration of the Port of Lobito announced.
According to a note from the administration of the Port of Lobito, the French manager, who succeeds the Portuguese Francisco Franca, was presented on Monday, in a ceremony presided over by the president of the Angolan port unit, Celso Rosas.
The Lobito Corridor is an infrastructure that connects the Port of Lobito, on the Atlantic coast of Angola, to the mineral-rich regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo), through a railway line of more than 1,300 kilometers that crosses the country, connecting Angola to DRCongo and the rest of Central Africa.
LAR, which includes, in addition to Mota-Engil, the Swiss company Trafigura and the Belgian company Vecturis, obtained in 2022 a 30-year concession to operate and manage the Lobito Corridor and the ore terminal at the Port of Lobito.
Celso Rosas highlighted, on the occasion, the actions developed in the last two years by the previous management, stating that, since the signing of the terminal concession contract, until the arrival of the first ore transport ships, its commitment was “decisive” in consolidating the role of the Port of Lobito “as a fundamental axis” of the Corridor.
The president of that port, located in the Angolan province of Benguela, also expressed confidence that the new president of LAR should continue the pace of work and the results already achieved.
Francisco Franca, quoted in the statement, considered, for his part, that the partnership between the Port of Lobito and LAR “is solid, prosperous and with a long-term horizon”, noting that, in the coming days, the Port should receive new shipments of the more than 9 thousand containers acquired by LAR.
He also announced that the company expects, in the coming days, to run nine weekly trains carrying ore, five of which are international, with a rail operation connecting Lobito to the Democratic Republic of Congo in just six days.
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