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The story of its success has not been straightforward.
Luanda, Angola
Angola’s city of Lobito, resting behind a natural harbor on the Western side of Africa, is becoming a major industrial port city. It is the second largest port along Angola’s coast, and it has grown steadily over the course of the last two decades, strategically placed as the head point of the internationally funded Lobito Corridor. The story of its success has not been straightforward. The Benguela Railway runs from Lobito into the heart of Africa, bearing critical minerals like cobalt and copper from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. But Angola’s export wealth has only recently turned towards minerals and, in the past, it focused on oil exports from terminals and offshore reserves at Cabinda and Luanda. Oil markets are volatile, and lower global oil prices in 2014 plunged Angola into a severe economic depression, shaking its energy resource-driven economy and paving the way for the diversified market that is developing across Angola today. It is a market uniquely expanding into global trade, and it will be critical for Asia-Pacific energy supplies and trade links in the long run.
