Original disclosure @ DFC website
Updated in EWS May 12, 2025
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As stated by the DFC, the project consists of the upgrade, rehabilitation, operation, and maintenance of a 1,289-kilometer brownfield railway line in Angola between the Lobito Port and Luau (“Lobito Corridor”), as well as a brownfield mineral port in Angola to facilitate Atlantic Ocean coast exports of copper and cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as intra-Angola cargo transport.
As stated on Trafigura's website, a 30-year concession has been awarded to the Lobito Atlantic Railway consortium joint-venture comprising Trafigura, a market leader in the global commodities industry, Mota-Engil, an international construction and infrastructure management company and Vecturis SA, an independent rail operator.
Since January 2024, the Lobito Atlantic Railway has been operating, managing and maintaining the railway line that extends across Angola for almost 1,300km between the Port of Lobito to Luau in eastern Angola and connects with the rail network run by the National Railway Society of the Congo (SNCC) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kolwezi, the heart of the Copperbelt.
LAR also operates the Porto do Lobito Mineral Terminal, which connects to the railway line, providing faster and more efficient service in one of the most uncongested ports on the Atlantic coast.
LAR currently employs more than 650 employees, divided between the company's management and railway and port operations. These workers have mostly transferred from CFB - Caminhos de Ferro de Benguela and the Porto of Lobito, and are expected to grow significantly in number due to the increase in the concessionaire's activity.
The LAR consortium is the concessionaire for the operation, management and maintenance of the Lobito Railway Corridor, which connects Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo. A separate pre-feasibility study, supported by the US and EU, is underway for the extension of the Lobito railway line from northern Zambia to eastern Angola.
As stated on the companies' websites:
Vecturis is a private railway operator providing transport services worldwide for passengers, mining products and commercial cargo.
Trafigura is one of the world's largest suppliers of commodities, founded in 1993.
As stated by Bloomberg, Mota - Engil, SGPS, S.A. offers construction and building services in Portugal. The Company builds roads and highways, railroads, bridges and dams as well as buildings, among other things. Mota has an operation in environmental and services related industries in Portugal and in foreign countries such as waste collection and treatment.
Private Actor 1 | Private Actor 1 Role | Private Actor 1 Sector | Relation | Private Actor 2 | Private Actor 2 Role | Private Actor 2 Sector |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MOTA-ENGIL | Client | Infrastructure | contracts with | Vecturis SA | Client | Transport |
Trafigura Group Pte Ltd | Client | Infrastructure | contracts with | MOTA-ENGIL | Client | Infrastructure |
Trafigura Group Pte Ltd | Client | Infrastructure | contracts with | Vecturis SA | Client | Transport |
No project contacts provided at the time of disclosure.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.
Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia
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You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability