The Autonomous Port of Dakar (French: ''Port autonome de Dakar'', abbreviation: ''PAD'') is a Senegalese public enterprise which is headquartered in Dakar, located in the east of city. Thanks to the strategic position that gives it a sheltered

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

, it is now the third largest port in West Africa after the

Autonomous Port of Abidjan The Autonomous Port of Abidjan is a commercial port at Treichville, in southern Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is a transshipment and intermodal facility and is managed as a public industrial and commercial establishment; the Director-General is Hien ...

and the Port of Lagos It is also the ninth-largest port on the African continent. The port has one of the largest deep-water

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

s along the

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

n coast. Its deep-draft structure and access channel allows round-the-clock access to the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. Its current

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

includes tanker vessel loading and unloading terminals, a

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

terminal with a storage capacity of 3000 20-foot-equivalent units, a cereals and

fishing port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

, a dedicated

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

terminal and a privately run ship repair facility. The port's location at the extreme western point of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, at the crossroad of the major sea-lanes linking

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, makes it a natural port of call for

shipping companies The following articles list companies that operate ships: * List of freight ship companies for companies that own and operate the freight ships (Bulk Carriers, Container Ships, Roll-on/Roll-off (for Freights), Tankers and Gas Carriers). ** List o ...

. Nearby over 10 km west of the port is

Les Mamelles Lighthouse Les Mamelles Lighthouse (french: Phare des Mamelles) is a strategically important lighthouse situated near Cap Vert, the westernmost point of Africa, on the outskirts of Dakar the capital of Senegal. Completed in 1864, it has been described as "on ...

(also the Ouakam Lighthouse) in which the port maintains together with its beacons.

History

Travaux du port de Dakar, emplacement de l'arsenal, 1908

Travaux du port de Dakar, chantier des blocs, vers 1910

Led by Captain Protet, French troops took possession of the Senegalese coast in 1857. Work began on the port in 1862 and it was inaugurated in 1866. In the late 1880s up to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

in the early 1930s (thought did not fully affected inland in Senegal), its ship traffic volume was high, it was used as a refueling station for ships with coal, especially military ones, up to the start of the 20th century, most of the ships were French, other ships came there. Ship volume was always higher than the port of

Mindelo Mindelo is a port cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook ...

(see also

Porto Grande Bay Porto Grande Bay ( pt, Baía do Porto Grande), also Mindelo Bay, is a bay on the north coast of the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde. The main city of São Vicente, Mindelo, is situated at the bay. The Porto Grande Bay is a natural harbour. It ...

) in Portuguese

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, the closest other major port at the time and was nearly active with the port of

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auton ...

. Coal refueling dropped when diesel ships rose and by the late 1950s, all ships would be refueled with diesel. While the

Bolloré Bolloré SE () is a French conglomerate headquartered in Puteaux, on the western outskirts of Paris, France. Founded in 1822, the company has interests in Vivendi, international freight forwarding, oil storage and pipelines in France, solid state ...

Group was in Senegal for more than 80 years,

Dubai Ports World DP World is an Emirati multinational logistics company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It specialises in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services and free trade zones. Formed in 2005 by the merger of Dubai Ports Auth ...

(DP World), who on October 8, 2007 signed an agreement with Senegalese Prime Minister

Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré (born 1951
.) was

Abdoulaye Wade Abdoulaye Wade (born 29 May 1926)
Encyclopedia of the Nations. Retrieved February 28, ...

- are scheduled for delivery by 2012.

Activity

Total

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...

traffic averages 10 million metric tons. In 2006, the port's shipping traffic carried 9.9 million tons of goods.''Comment Dubaï a gagné Dakar'', ''loc. cit''.

Port operation

Source: World Bank;

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...

study on the transport sector

Other

The football (soccer) club

ASC Port Autonome Union Culturelle et Sportive des Travailleurs Port Autonome is a Senegalese football club based in Dakar. Their home stadium is Stade Port Autonome. The club is named after the city and country's main shipping port the Autonomous Port of Dakar ...

is named after port and the port co-owns the club. The port features prominently in Senegalese cult-classic film

Touki Bouki ''Touki Bouki'' (, Wolof for ''The Journey of the Hyena'') is a 1973 Senegalese drama film, directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty. It was shown at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and the 8th Moscow International Film Festival. The film was restored ...

References

Map

*''Côte occidentale d'Afrique. Port et Mouillage de Dakar. Levés en 1875 ... par Mr F. Leclerc'' (''Coast of West Africa''), Paris, 1876 (carte conserved in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

)

External links

Official websiteThe Port of the Future, huge state projects at the APIX site
{{Coord, 14.680556, N, 17.427778, W, source:wikidata, display=title Companies of Senegal Ports and harbours in Africa Ports and harbours of the Atlantic Ocean Transport in Senegal Autonomous and independent ports

History

Activity

Port operation

Other

See also

References

Further reading

News articles

Map

External links