In the first quarter of 2024, traffic resumed at the Autonomous Port of Cotonou, showing an increase in the volume of goods of 3.2%, mainly driven by exports.

The Economic Situation Note (Dpc, May 2024) published for the first quarter of 2024, mentions that global freight traffic grew by 3.2% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. According to figures from the Autonomous Port of Cotonou (Pac) published by the Department of Forecasting and Economic Affairs (Dp/Dge/Mef), the volume of goods that transited through the port of Cotonou stood at 1,957,921 tonnes in the first quarter of 2023 after 1,896,736 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2023. The increase in freight traffic during the first quarter of the year through the increase in exports (+90.1% quarter-on-quarter) and the resumption of transshipments (+3.6%), due in particular to the continuation of port reforms to improve the competitiveness of the port of Cotonou

Exports via the port of Cotonou are estimated at a volume of 569,567 tons in the first quarter of 2024 against 231,496 tons in the same period in 2023 and 299,583 tons in the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 146% year-on-year.