{"id":9505,"date":"2024-11-05T11:38:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T11:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/05\/a-rejuvenated-railway-could-change-how-minerals-move-in-africa-and-globally\/"},"modified":"2024-11-05T11:38:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T11:38:38","slug":"a-rejuvenated-railway-could-change-how-minerals-move-in-africa-and-globally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/05\/a-rejuvenated-railway-could-change-how-minerals-move-in-africa-and-globally\/","title":{"rendered":"A rejuvenated railway could change how minerals move in Africa \u2013 and globally"},"content":{"rendered":"

In late August, a container vessel sailed out of Angola\u2019s Port of Lobito carrying railway operator Lobito Atlantic Railway\u2019s first shipment of copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the US. <\/p>\n

It was a milestone moment for the Lobito Corridor, an initiative backed by a US and Europe that aims to create an efficient transport link from Africa\u2019s mineral-rich interior to the port on its west coast for export, by rejuvenating and expanding old railways. <\/p>\n

It took the copper six days to travel from the city of Kolwezi in the DRC \u2013 home to some of the world\u2019s largest copper and cobalt reserves \u2013 across more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) of rail lines to the Port of Lobito. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s about 30 days faster than a road journey, according to Francisco Franca, the CEO of Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR), a consortium of firms <\/strong>that took over operations of the railway in January. Franca says LAR is investing $250 million to improve the rail lines and telecommunications infrastructure in Angola, and add 1,500 wagons to its fleet. <\/p>\n

Momentum behind the corridor connecting Africa\u2019s so-called Copperbelt to the Atlantic Ocean comes as Beijing and Washington jostle for supremacy in green technology, driving demand for critical minerals like copper, lithium and cobalt. <\/p>\n

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The MSC SAMU container vessel at the Port of Lobito. The ship took Lobito Atlantic Railways first shipment of copper to the US.<\/span> <\/div>
Courtesy Lobito Atlantic Railway<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

US financing<\/h2>\n

In recent decades, China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has bankrolled railways, highways, communications infrastructure, ports and mines across the developing world. That includes loans to refurbish the 100-year-old Benguela Railway in Angola which was badly damaged during a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. <\/p>\n

China has also invested heavily in the DRC, and its access to minerals in Africa has given it a lead in industries like electric vehicle battery production, according to analysts. <\/p>\n

That hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed in Washington. In 2022, the US and its G7 allies formally launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), which is aiming to mobilize $600 billion in global infrastructure funding by 2027, to act as an alternative to the BRI. <\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n
\n
Trucks haul away ore from a pit in Tenke Fungurume Mine, one of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world, mostly owned by Chinese company CMOC, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 17, 2023.<\/span> <\/div>
Emmet Livingstone\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The US is providing hundreds of millions of dollars of financing for the Lobito Corridor, a flagship of the PGI, which is built on the bones of the Benguela Railway. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis first-of-its kind project is the biggest US rail investment in Africa ever,\u201d US President Joe Biden said during a late 2023 visit by Angola\u2019s president to Washington. \u201cA partnership between Angola and America is more important and more impactful than ever,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Today, most of the minerals leaving the Port of Lobito go to Asia, said David Reekmans, the managing director of AGL Lobito Terminal, which in March took over the port\u2019s operations. AGL is investing more than $100 million to improve the port, which Reekmans hopes will lead to increased volumes flowing through it \u2013 and it may also act as a conduit for new trade flows. <\/p>\n

In the future, Reekmans expects a \u201cdiversion of minerals that are now going to Asia\u201d to the US and Europe. <\/p>\n

Feasibility studies are under way for a second, more ambitious phase of the project, which will expand the railway 800 kilometers (500 miles) to Zambia. And the US hopes to one day extend the line to the Indian Ocean through Tanzania, connecting the east and west of the continent, although these plans could change under a Trump administration. <\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n
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US President Joe Biden meets with Angola’s President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco in the Oval Office at the White House, November 30, 2023.<\/span> <\/div>
Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted delegations from dozens of African countries at a summit seeking to strengthen ties amid pressure from the west. On the sidelines of the event, Beijing signed an agreement to redevelop a railway between Zambia and a Tanzanian port. <\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic development along the corridor\u201d<\/h2>\n

About 30% of Angola\u2019s 37 million people live below the poverty line, and youth unemployment is widespread. Across the border in Zambia and the DRC, the proportion of the population living in poverty is closer to 60%. <\/p>\n

Critics say that the corridor\u2019s focus on extracting and exporting raw materials will bring limited financial benefit to these countries. They argue that more focus should be put on developing local value-added processing. <\/p>\n

But project proponents say that the corridor will create thousands of jobs and catalyze the growth of myriad sectors. <\/p>\n

\u201cLobito Corridor is not just a railway line, but is the economic development along the corridor,\u201d said Franca, the CEO of LAR. <\/p>\n

For companies like his, the benefits of the Lobito Corridor are clear. \u201cIt\u2019s very important in terms \u2026 of efficiency, of costs,\u201d said Catarro. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t have this logistic infrastructure installed in a country, it\u2019s impossible to grow in the future,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In late August, a container vessel sailed out of Angola\u2019s Port of Lobito carrying railway operator Lobito Atlantic Railway\u2019s first shipment of copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the US. It was a milestone moment for the Lobito Corridor, an initiative backed by a US and Europe that aims to create an <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}