Cocoa ports
Autonomous Port of Abidjan
The country’s and sub-region’s largest port: the outlet for beans from the centre and east, and for processed products.
- Location
- Ébrié lagoon, Vridi canal, Abidjan
- Status
- Autonomous port (PAA), public body
- Cocoa hinterland
- Centre, centre-east, east (Abengourou), south-east
- Key cargo
- Beans and semi-finished cocoa products, containers, fuels
A two-fold platform
Opened to sea traffic with the Vridi canal in 1950, Abidjan is Côte d’Ivoire’s main logistics platform and also serves landlocked Sahel countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger).
For cocoa it exports beans but increasingly processed products too: butter, powder, liquor and cake from the grinding plants in Abidjan’s industrial zone.
Role in the sector
- Receiving beans from the centre, east and south-east
- Storage, quality control and bulk or container shipping
- Exporting semi-finished products to chocolate makers
- Support services: customs, banks, insurance, freight forwarders
Challenges
Port and road-access flow, storage capacity, containerisation, and the rise of local processing, which makes Abidjan the industrial centre of Ivorian cocoa.
Traffic statistics are published by the Autonomous Port of Abidjan and the Coffee-Cocoa Council and vary from season to season.
Keep exploring
History of cocoa in Côte d’IvoireFrom the colonial introduction to world leadership.The cocoa sectorIn-depth article on the sector and its challenges.Cocoa map and portsProducing regions and export ports on an interactive map.Port of San-PédroThe western cocoa loop’s export gateway.CooperativesHow farmers organise to collect, sell and certify.Private and public bodiesRegulators, support agencies, exporters and grinders.