Nearly 1,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers were cleared in just five nights from the terminals of the port of Abidjan, as part of a pilot operation aimed at reducing congestion and speeding up the release of goods.
The operation was conducted by AGL Côte d’Ivoire from August 27 to 31 at Abidjan Terminal and Côte d’Ivoire Terminal. The results were presented this week in Abidjan by the company’s Transport Solutions Directorate.
Evacuations concentrated during the night
The system involved organizing container movements outside of the busiest periods in order to reduce queues, improve truck turnover, and streamline coordination between terminals, carriers, and other port stakeholders.
The experiment takes place as the port of Abidjan experiences sustained growth in its volumes and must accommodate increased transshipment traffic and goods destined for Côte d’Ivoire and the hinterland countries.
The performance of nearly 1,000 TEUs in five nights must now be used to assess the possibility of sustaining or expanding this type of organization. The challenge is to reduce the downtime of containers and vehicles while improving the overall capacity of the platform.
The port of Abidjan remains one of the main commercial entry points in West Africa and also serves several landlocked countries in the sub-region.
