USAID Office of Food for Peace Burkina Faso Bellmon ... - CiteSeerX

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ANNEX 6: PORT INFRASTRUCTURE
The initial point of entry for all Title II food aid currently destined for Burkina Faso include the
modern and capable Ports of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, Tema in Ghana, and/or Lomé in Togo.
Presently, the port of choice is Lomé, but provided below is port and transportation related
information for the two alternatives: Abidjan and Tema.
Table 47: Key Port Characteristics
Characteristics Abidjan Tema Lomé
Specialty Containers; railroad link Containers;
Foodstuffs; Metals and
transshipment; export of Oil; Containers;
cocoa and other
transshipment; railroad
agriculture commodities link
Time from Port to
Varies 7-10 days by 3 days by land – distance 3 days by land – distance
Ouagadougou
rail/land – distance 800
miles
550 miles
720 miles
Quay Berths 34 12 8
Covered Storage 124,000 sq. m. 53,000 MT 235,000 sq. m.
Annual Traffic 15,330,000 MT 6,000,000 MT 3,000,000 MT
Port of Abidjan
Port of Abidjan serves as transit for commercial imports -- from EU and other countries-- to
landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Abidjan is the largest port on the
West Coast of Africa. In addition, the port of Abidjan has a rail station to facilitate inland
transport to other countries. Imports into Côte d’Ivoire for transit to the landlocked countries
usually enter Côte d’Ivoire duty-free. A railroad links Abidjan to Ouagadougou via Bobo
Dioulassou, and current development plans call for it to be extended 360 km (224 mi) north to
the Mali border. Typically on a per MT basis, shipping cargo by railway is cheaper than by truck.
Previously, USAID Title II food aid would arrive via Abidjan and loaded on railcars bound for
Burkina Faso, and was the preferred Port for the Title II Program. However, due to political
instability in the early 2000s and transporter strikes in Côte d’Ivoire, both commercial and food
aid traffic has been increasingly shifting to neighboring ports, such as Lomé and Tema. Since
shifting commodity discharge from the Port of Abidjan to Lomé, the USAID Title II Awardees
have found it to be an efficient, modern port with ample warehouse and storage facilities and no
delays. Given the continued periodic security concerns in Côte d’Ivoire, the Awardees prefer to
maintain Lomé as the port point of entry.
Port of Tema
The Port of Tema has benefited from the political instability and strikes in Côte d’Ivoire. Tema
city and port lies in southeastern Ghana along the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean), 18 miles (29
km) east of Accra. Tema Port, the larger of two sea ports in Ghana, is supported by the
Takoradi port, about 300 kilometers east of Tema, where eight berths are available. In addition,
charges imposed for slow discharge rates (e.g., a 1,000 MT per day minimum reported for
Lomé) or demurrage charges (e.g. a reported $8,000 per day for a 1,500 MT shipment of wheat
82 BEST ANALYSIS – BURKINA FASO