Autonomous Port of Abidjan

It is a major contributor to the economy of Ivory Coast, and the greater part of the external trade of landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Guinea also passes through it.

In 1898, a French mission including Charles François Maurice Houdaille, Captain Thomasset and Robert Wallace Crosson-Duplessis visited Ivory Coast to select the location for the port, which would also be the terminus of a projected railway (what became the Chemin de Fer Abidjan-Niger).

After hydrological studies in the Netherlands, the problem was solved by the construction of the Vridi Canal; this was started in 1935, suspended during World War II, and completed in 1950.

According to the Ivoirian Ministry of Economy and Finance, traffic through the port contributes to 90% of the customs revenues of Ivory Coast and 60% of the country's income.

70% of the external trade of landlocked countries of Africa such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Guinea also passes through the port.

[6] In 2010 traffic was 22 million tonnes; to return to those levels, projects to enlarge the Vridi Canal, to deepen the port, and to add a second container terminal were undertaken in the 2010s.