African maritime data leap
The African Ports Connectivity Project, freshly approved by the African Development Bank, aims to weave a digital thread across more than sixty seaports from Tanger-Med to Durban. By pooling geospatial intelligence and harmonised data standards, the initiative wants to cut freight dwell times and paperwork bottlenecks.
On 10 November 2025, geospatial policy specialist Manuel Ntumba confirmed on LinkedIn that he had been appointed coordinator of the continental programme. His mandate covers strategic planning, stakeholder alignment and progress monitoring, making him the focal point between port authorities, donors, technology vendors and the AfDB infrastructure department.
AfDB officials present the scheme as a logical companion to the bank’s Integrated Maritime Strategy, which targets a six-percent rise in intra-African trade volumes by 2030 (AfDB strategy document, 2022). Early feasibility assessments suggest end-to-end shipment costs could fall fifteen percent once common platforms are live.
From UA halls to multilateral dashboards
A graduate of the University of Lomé and later of France’s École Nationale des Sciences Géographiques, Ntumba built his reputation inside the African Union Commission, where he advised on open-data regulation and risk compliance. Peers credit his success to the rare mix of coding literacy and diplomatic tact.
In 2024 he was seconded to oversee monitoring and evaluation of a 580-million-dollar climate resilience portfolio financed by the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank. That assignment, according to colleagues, sharpened his command of multilateral procurement rules—an expertise considered vital for orchestrating simultaneous port upgrades today.
Outside the public sphere, Ntumba chairs Tod’Aérs Global Network, a consultancy advising nine governments on emerging-technology adoption. The firm has piloted blockchain land registries in Togo and satellite-based forestry audits in Congo-Brazzaville, projects that mirror the data governance challenges the ports programme must resolve ahead globally.
Layered financing, global partners
Although AfDB provides technical leadership, the financing spine is the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance, an initiative anchored by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. MCDF grants will cover feasibility studies, cybersecurity assessments and capacity building, while AfDB sovereign loans will fund physical equipment and terminal retrofits locally.
Project documents show estimated phase-one costs of 220 million dollars, with thirty percent earmarked for digital twins and sensors, twenty for data centers and the remainder for training and standards harmonisation. Negotiations are already under way with national port authorities in Ghana, Kenya, Congo-Brazzaville and Morocco.
Delivery will be structured under a results-based framework, meaning funds are disbursed once predetermined service-level indicators are met. AfDB used a similar model during Mozambique’s Nacala logistics corridor, where cargo clearance time dropped forty percent in two years (AfDB monitoring report, 2021), bolstering confidence among partner states.
Smart infrastructure, measurable gains
Central to the blueprint is a cloud platform aggregating Automatic Identification System feeds, satellite imagery and customs databases. Ports will visualise berth occupancy in real time, predict equipment failures and automate tariff calculations. Ntumba says the ambition is ‘actionable data, not dashboards for their own sake’ in Africa.
A pilot at Tema, scheduled for mid-2026, will benchmark performance using key metrics such as crane moves per hour and truck turnaround. According to internal AfDB notes, a five-percent gain in port productivity could lift GDP across coastal members of the African Continental Free Trade Area by 1.2.
Cybersecurity receives its own budget line, reflecting growth in ransomware attacks on port operators worldwide. The rollout will align with the IMO’s 2021 guidelines on maritime cyber risk management, while regional Internet exchange points will be strengthened to keep data sovereignty concerns at bay for stakeholders.
Strategic value for Congo-Brazzaville
Pointe-Noire, already a transhipment hub for Central Africa, is shortlisted for early adoption of the shared platform. Officials at the autonomous port affirm that digitised manifests could shave two days off clearance, helping the Republic of Congo secure larger feeder services and increase timber exports to global buyers.
The port’s planned dry-dock expansion, backed by a 150-million-euro public-private partnership, is likely to piggyback on the same data architecture, creating synergies in vessel scheduling and maintenance. Local logistics startups see a chance to integrate trucking apps with customs API gateways once standards settle there.
Investor watchpoints
For equity investors, the immediate openings lie in optical-fiber backbones, port community systems and green shore-power units. AfDB intends to publish an online pipeline in early 2026 listing procurements above five million dollars, a step expected to enhance transparency and crowd in commercial lenders even further significantly.
Ratings agencies view the project as credit-positive, noting that higher port throughput reinforces external balances for several sovereigns. Yet they warn that capacity constraints in customs administrations could delay benefits. Ntumba argues that integrated training packages will close that gap faster than past stand-alone reforms managed elsewhere.
