[7] The coat of arms of the city of Pointe-Noire is: "Gold at the point of sand accompanied by two silver oars, the handle gules, laid in chevron poured, the tip and oars moving from a sea of azure wavy three streams of silver"[8] Pointe-Noire is a commune divided into six urban boroughs (arrondissements):[9] Pointe-Noire is also a department which include the area of the commune and, since 2011, the district of Tchiamba-Nzassi, formerly part of the Kouilou department.

From then on, Pointe-Noire, called in Portuguese Ponta Negra, became a maritime point of reference, and then a small fishing village starting in 1883, after the French signed a treaty with local people, the Loangos.

As rapids make it impossible to navigate on the Congo River past Brazzaville, and the coastal railroad terminus site had to allow for the construction of a deep-sea port, authorities chose the site of Ponta Negra instead of Libreville as originally envisaged.

Incidents which occurred during 1958 legislative elections led the leaders of the Democratic Union for the Defence of African Interests (Union démocratique pour la défense des interets africains, UDDIA) to transfer the capital to Brazzaville, since Pointe-Noire was under the influence of the political opposition.

A meeting was held on 18 December 2012 with a collective of 10 Congo government ministries and invited mining companies to discuss future development opportunities.

It also hosts a British international school for children aged 0 to 18 years, called Connie's Academy.

[16] As a result of the decentralisation policy put in place by the Congolese government, Pointe-Noire has seen the emergence of some young universities.

The city has several private institutes and universities: Pointe-Noire is home to Agostinho-Neto International Airport which as of August 2023 had direct flights to Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Brazzaville, Cotonou, Douala, Istanbul, Libreville, Luanda and Paris[20] and was the second busiest airport in the country.

As of 2014[update] the railway was operating the La Gazelle train service every other day to Brazzaville and intermediate destinations.

[citation needed] On 22 June 2010 a train departing from Pointe-Noire derailed resulting in the deaths of many passengers.