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Port of Bissau suspends exports of wood

The export of wood through the port of Bissau has been suspended to give priority to the export of cashew nuts. This follows a decision made by the council of ministers meeting held in Bissau. Making the announcement the government indicated the move was aimed at reducing congestion at the port and to enable ships arriving to load cashew nuts to enter port instead of being forced to wait outside. The announcement said that the suspension would also allow ships carrying food products for the capital, which have been waiting long periods outside port, to enter and begin discharging much needed cargo. Shortly after the decision was announced trucks carrying logs for export began moving out of the area around the port of Bissau, causing initial increased road congestion but which would eventually disperse to reduce the level of road congestion that was preventing trucks loaded with cashew nuts from gaining access to the port. It is not clear what exporters of logs and wood from Guinea Bissau will do now or to which port they will take their cargo to.

Bissau port to close within 2 years

Guinea-Bissau, Africa’s fifth biggest exporter of cashew nuts, may lose its primary container port within two years as sediment builds up, said an official from the World Bank, Bloomberg reports.Water levels at the capital city port, Bissau, are becoming too shallow for container ships, World Bank Liaison Officer Carmen Pereira said in an interview in Bissau on May 20. “It’s not going to take much time before it becomes unnavigable,” Pereira said. “There’s hasn’t been one dredging of any single river since the early 70s.” The port of Guinea-Bissau, a West African state of 1.7 million people, competes with the neighboring ports of Banjul, Gambia and Dakar, Senegal, where unloading costs are one third less due to better infrastructure, Pereira said. Bissau handles 85 percent of the country’s exports and 95 percent of imports, according to a World Bank report.