MSC kicks in for Ivory Coast port revamp

The $512 million redevelopment project, of which ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. will contribute $222 million, seeks to make Port of San Pedro in the Ivory Coast a major transhipment hub for West Africa.    Mediterranean Shipping Co. said it had signed a 35-year concession agreement to develop and expand the San Pedro Container Terminal in the Ivory Coast.
   The terminal will be expanded at a cost of nearly 300 billion West African CFA francs (U.S. $512 million), and MSC said the project “will allow the port to handle 14,000-TEU cargo vessels and benefit from new shipping technologies, facilitating transhipment operations and generating vast opportunities to foster development. The Port of San Pedro will become one of the most competitive transhipment hub of the region, the sub-regions as well as of the West African coast.”
   MSC said it will contribute about 130 billion CFA francs (U.S. $222 million) to the project for “superstructure and ultra-modern equipment, including latest IT technologies.”