marseille based cma cgm said it is part of a group that plans to invest between eur200 million (us$250 million) and eur250 million on a second container terminal at abidjan, a port which handles the country's cocoa exports and 60 per cent of the cargo to and from mali, burkina faso and niger.
following talks with cote d'ivoire president alassane ouattara, cma cgm director general rodolphe saade said: "my visit concerns the tender offer the cote d'ivoire has decided to launch. i met the president to inform him of the interest of cma cgm."
cma cgm later issued a clarification saying: "cma cgm does not intend to participate in this project alone. it will invest as part of a consortium alongside other partners who would also finance the project."
cma cgm said it expects to almost triple the annual capacity of abidjan to 2.3 million teu a year by 2016 from today's 800,000 teu.
reuters also reported that 20 companies, including maersk and msc, have already submitted bids, which open on july 18, according to abidjan port ceo sie hien.