17th December, 2010
Swayed by the fortunes from the concession of Nigerian Ports to private operators, the Republic of Benin has engaged the services of Bureau Veritas/SOGET, major players in compliance assessment and trade facilitation in West Africa, to concession and fully automate Cotonou port.
The country’s decision to concession, implement and operate the Port Single Window of Cotonou is to make the port more vibrant, attractive and continue to retain patronage from the excess Nigerian cargo and other surrounding countries which had hitherto used the port as transit hub.
The Port of Cotonou is located in a highly strategic geographical location, which enables it to act as one of the major supply hubs for sub-Saharan West Africa and to take advantage of the strong growth in cargo traffic inwards for the international market of Benin as well as regional transit.
Mr. Nicole Weidig, the Director of Business Development of Bureau Veritas dropped the hint on Tuesday while speaking at the 8th Pan- African Port Cooperation Conference held in Arusha, Tanzania.
Weidig  said  part of the concession requirement is to fully automate the Cotonou Port system to make it more attractive to investors from neighbouring countries, and in particular, make them enjoy the trade and transport facilitation along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor, initiated by the World Bank in April 2010.
He noted that the implementation of the Port Single Window would enable Benin, which is classified 127th by the World Bank in its 2011 Doing-Business- indicator for Cross Border Trading, to join the Top 100 and achieve its goal of making the port of Cotonou a high performance regional transit hub towards neighbouring countries, thus furthering the economic growth of the country.
Mr. Weidig said the Benin Minister in-charge of Maritime economy, Mr. Issa Badarou Soule, maritime transport and Port infrastructures signed a ten year contract with their company, explaining that the Port Single Window is scheduled for delivery within six months.
Mr. Eric Sabatier, the Senior Vice President of Bureau Veritas in-charge of Government Services and International Trade said the implementation of the Port Single Window of Cotonou will enable Benin to become a technological reference of the West African Coast.