Port of Lome Togo West Africa

Port Autonome de Lom web site.

Port Infrastructure

Lom lies on the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic coast) in the extreme southwestern corner of the country. Selected as the colonial capital of German Togoland in 1897, it became important as an administrative, commercial, and transport centre.

A modern town was laid out, and a 1, 380-foot (420-metre) jetty was built to facilitate the export of raw materials. Three railways fan out from Lom to the hinterland: northwest to Palim, north to Sokod, and east along the coast to Anho.

Modernization of the port begun in the 1960s, and a deepwater harbour, completed in 1968, initially planned for a 400, 000-ton annual traffic, but currently maintains a 3, 000, 000-ton annual traffic. This has greatly facilitated the shipping of phosphates and other major exports, such as cocoa, coffee, copra, cotton, and palm products. The Lom oil refinery was opened in 1978, and in that same year construction began on a thermal power plant. An international airport is nearby.

The Togolese capital was also the site of several important summits; the first Lom Convention was signed there in 1975, establishing an aid and trade agreement between African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union.

The port offers two piers the major one being 1720-m long with a 950m back-up structure eastwards. The maximum water drought is 14m. There are two quays:

Mole 1: Measures 366, 5 m in length by 72 m in width with 4 berths for conventional ships and has a total capacity of more than 400 000 tons.

Mole 2: Measures 250 m in length and 140 m in width. It can accommodate vessels of 11, 000 to 15, 000 dwt (Ro-ro) with a capacity of more than 525 000 tons of various goods

Lom port also has a specialist quay for gypsum, clinker and sulphur, and an oil wharf for hydrocarbons.

Draft at Harbour Mouth - 16m

Draft at Berth - 12.5m

Cranes - Cranes from 4 to 55 tonnes, mobile 3x10-60 tonnes

Equipment - 2 to 15 tons fork lift trucks, 29 tons container lift trucks, tractors and tractor trucks, trailers, platform trailer and various vehicles for containers handling