The Autonomous Port of Cotonou has long been described as essentially dependent on trade with its hinterland. That description is now outdated. Traffic growth, the rise of transshipment and expanding exports indicate that, despite regional difficulties, Benin’s port platform is steadily consolidating its role as a logistics hub in the Gulf of Guinea.
The Port of Cotonou is changing scale. Figures available for 2025 and the first half of 2026 reveal a platform that no longer merely handles flows destined for the Beninese market or neighbouring countries: it is now seeking to multiply its sources of traffic, diversify its activities and strengthen its position in regional logistics chains.
In 2025, the port’s overall traffic reached 14.7 million tonnes, compared with 9.6 million in 2024 a rise of 52%. At the same time, exports increased by 74.8% and transshipment by 312.6%. The number of vessels received also rose from 725 to 841.
These figures take on particular significance when placed in a regional context. The Beninese corridor has faced major disruptions, notably the closure of the border between Benin and Niger. Despite this unfavourable environment, port activity continued to grow. This demonstrates that Cotonou now has several growth engines and no longer relies on a single outlet.
Regional transit takes on a new shape
The first lesson of this evolution is clear: the Port of Cotonou is seeking to broaden its regional market.
Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali remain strategic markets for the port, but the strategy is no longer solely to wait for goods from the hinterland. The port authority is also working to develop redistribution flows, transshipment, exports and trade with other markets in the sub-region.
The growth of transshipment is particularly telling. In 2025, this activity jumped by 312.6%. In the first half of 2026, it continued to rise sharply, reaching around 516,558 tonnes, compared with 204,928 tonnes over the same period in 2025 an increase of 152.1%.
This dynamic means Cotonou is no longer content to be a gateway for goods destined for Benin. The port also aims to become a platform for redistributing goods to other destinations.
This is a major strategic shift.
A port that withstands regional shocks
The performance of the Port of Cotonou also deserves analysis in light of the trade and diplomatic tensions that have affected West African corridors.
A significant portion of hinterland trade was disrupted by tensions with Niger. Yet the port’s overall traffic continued to rise. This resilience shows that investments in infrastructure, equipment modernisation, digitalisation and improvements to the logistics chain are beginning to bear fruit.
The port authority has launched a vast transformation programme including Terminal 5, the enlargement of the port basin, the modernisation of quays and improved access. The stated aim is notably to increase handling capacity and accommodate larger vessels.
The African Development Bank is also supporting this transformation. Financing of around 60 billion CFA francs has been mobilised for Terminal 5, as well as for the centralised access and Zongo parking area, with the goal of smoothing movements and strengthening the platform’s competitiveness.
Cotonou no longer bets on a single corridor
This is probably one of the most important elements of the transformation.
The port strategy progressively involves multiplying outlets in order to reduce vulnerability linked to dependence on a single corridor. The Port of Cotonou enjoys a particularly favourable geographical position: it can serve the Beninese market, but also the economies of the hinterland and part of the trade with Nigeria and other regional markets.
This diversification is becoming all the more important as international trade is now subject to increasingly frequent disruptions: security crises, diplomatic tensions, border closures, rising logistics costs and the reorganisation of supply chains.
In this new environment, a high-performing port is no longer simply one that handles a lot of goods. It is one that can attract new flows, process them quickly, redistribute them and maintain activity despite regional disruptions.
It is precisely on this terrain that Cotonou is attempting to reposition itself.
An engine for Benin’s economy
The importance of the Port of Cotonou extends far beyond quays and terminals. Its activity feeds an entire economic chain: road transport, handling, transit, warehousing, insurance, banks, customs, trade, catering, maintenance, digital services and a multitude of related activities.
Every increase in port traffic can therefore have a knock-on effect on several sectors of the national economy.
The port is also an essential tool for the competitiveness of Beninese companies. More efficient port infrastructure reduces delays, improves the predictability of operations and facilitates access for businesses to international markets.
This is why the modernisation of the port must be considered not only as an investment in infrastructure, but as an investment in Benin’s productive and commercial capacity.
The modernisation programme launched several years ago represents more than 450 million euros of investment in the medium term, according to the Autonomous Port of Cotonou.
GDIZ and exports also change the equation
Another important development: the rise of Beninese exports.
In the first half of 2026, exports handled by the Port of Cotonou reached around 2.87 million tonnes, compared with 2.16 million a year earlier a rise of 33.3%. This dynamic is notably linked to increased industrial production and exports of Nigerian crude oil.
This evolution is strategic for Benin. The more the country develops its industrial processing and export capacities, the more the port becomes an essential instrument of this new economy.
The development of the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone, the increase in production capacities and the search for new markets thus give the port an additional function: that of supporting Benin’s transformation from an economy mainly oriented towards re-export trade to one driven more by production and the export of processed goods.
A strategic advantage for Benin
The true success of the Port of Cotonou will therefore not be measured solely by the number of tonnes handled.
It will be measured by its ability to attract economic operators over the long term, secure supply chains, gain market share in the sub-region and become an essential platform for West African trade.
The first results are encouraging. The Container Port Performance Index of the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked Cotonou 303rd out of 403 ports in 2024, against 402nd out of 405 ports in 2023 a rise of nearly one hundred places in a year.
Challenges obviously remain: further improving corridor fluidity, reducing logistics costs, strengthening security, continuing digitalisation and reconquering certain hinterland markets.
But one thing now appears difficult to deny: the Port of Cotonou is no longer simply defending its historic positions. It is seeking to conquer new ones.
Rising traffic, surging transshipment, growing exports and infrastructure investments are gradually drawing a new map of regional outlets.
For Benin, the challenge therefore goes beyond the performance of a port. It is about consolidating one of the main levers of its economy, attracting more regional trade and making Cotonou a platform capable of durably connecting Benin to the major trade circuits of West Africa.
The Port of Cotonou is no longer content to watch goods pass by: it now seeks to become one of the crossing points that organise their circulation in the region.