West Central Africa's Transshipment Terminal: São Tomé e Príncipe

West Central Africa (WCA) is a region plagued by a history of political, social and economic instability. Nonetheless, seaborne container trade continues to grow. The West Central Africa Region, from Ivory Coast to Angola, is one of the few regions of the world without a dominant hub distribution port. A 1990 World Bank study found that a combination of factors appeared to dissuade the creation of a WCA transshipment facility. The study found that any cost savings of containerization were not significant enough to warrant a transition from the existing multiple-ports-of-call. However, this paradigm appears to be changing. An emerging market now exists for a regional transshipment container terminal. This paper will examine the processes used to determine the economic, financial, and engineering feasibility for a transshipment terminal in São Tomé e Príncipe. Additionally, it explores political risk and its direct relationship to funding capacity.