BENIN’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVE

**Figure 9. Port of Cotonou’s demand**

<!-- Start of picture text --> a. Demand by commodity grouping b. Container tonnage<br>4000 2500<br>3500<br>2000<br>3000<br>2500 1500<br>2000<br>1500 1000<br>1000<br>500<br>500<br>0 0<br>General cargo Dry Bulk Import Export<br>1996 2005 1996 2005<br>Thousand Tons Thousand Tons<br><!-- End of picture text --> _Source_ : Ocean Shipping Consultants 2009.

The Port of Cotonou’s performance reflects the congested conditions in the port and the lack of proper equipment. Compared with other ports in the region, the Port of Cotonou has the longest pre-berth waiting time for cargo vessels (48 hours). The turnaround time for general cargo vessels was, at 48 hours, the second-highest among West African ports, after Dakar. Similarly, the truck-processing time for receipt and delivery of cargo was one of the longest. The long container dwell time, at 12 days— comparable with Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) and Lomé (Togo) (table 5)—can be traced to the fact that in Cotonou almost 85 percent of incoming container traffic is unpacked within the port perimeter (whereas in other ports this process usually takes place outside the port). This situation does not enable an optimal use of the port space and results in heavy truck traffic in and around the port perimeter, which impedes traffic flow. Authorization for the port to work around the clock, granted in early 2007, has increased _de facto_ the capacity of the port and improved its performance. The adoption of a landlord model (to replace the port’s current status as a tool port, box 1) has the potential to increase performance still further.<sup>3</sup> Port users inevitably pay a price for the excess of demand over capacity, the port’s high labor costs, and the absence of competition in the sector. The Port of Cotonou has the highest bulk dry handling charge, at $5 per ton (table 5). The port charges applied are even higher when weighed against the service levels achieved. They are further inflated from time to time by the application of congestion surcharges in certain cargo sectors. Whereas labor costs in the Port of Cotonou represented 46 percent of the revenues for 2005 (52 percent in 2004), the recommended figure should not exceed 20 percent. Lowering labor costs to a standard level would require reducing the staffing of the port authority from 340 permanent and 409 temporary people to no more than 100 people.

The limited potential for expanding the existing port infrastructure presents the challenge of building new facilities. The development of the Seme-Kpodji Port, 20 kilometers to the south of the existing port, is seen as the way forward, but implementation progress has been slow.

> 3 Since 1997 the _Port Autonome de Cotonou_ (PAC) has been a government-owned port authority under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Stevedoring activities are carried out by three operators: (i) the Benin Cargo Handling Company, SOBEMAP ( _Société Béninoise des Manutentions Portuaires_ ), a public company; (ii) COMAN S.A. ( _Cotonou Manutention_ ), a company owned by the Maersk group, and (iii) SMTC ( _Société de Manutention du Terminal á Conteneurs de Cotonou_ ), owned by the Bollore group. Both COMAN and SMTC were awarded a 25-year concession in 2004 to handle containers, while SOBEMAP is responsible for all kinds of cargo and shorehandling activities.

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