Africa's Second Smallest Country to Get Deep Sea Freight Transhipment Port

SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE – CHINA – Diversified engineering services conglomerate China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has concluded recent discussions and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the São Tomé e Príncipe government for the design and construction of a deep sea transhipment freight port on the small island nation which rests in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa, an area which in recent times has seen a decline in reported piracy attacks.

The deep sea transhipment Port will be developed in this, Africa’s second smallest sovereign state, in phases, with the construction for the first phase set to be completed by 2018. This landmark project will be developed under a public-private partnerships (PPP) model with the hope that the port will be operational at some point in 2019.

The developers’ say the deep sea transhipment port on the island of São Tomé will have world-class infrastructure and will be developed to serve the logistics needs of the Gulf of Guinea. The Government of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé e Príncipe says that it is fully committed to this project, which has an estimated cost of around $800 million. CHEC plans to invest at least $120 million in the project and will also have the responsibility for engineering, design and construction of the project for all phases.