UAE-based global ports operator DP World will invest more than $90 million in Angola over the next two years, widening its presence beyond port operations as the country seeks to position itself as a transport and trade gateway for Southern and Central Africa.
Mohammed Akoojee, DP World’s chief executive for Africa, announced the planned spending on September 28 at the Angola Hub Transport and Logistics Summit 2026 in Talatona, Luanda, according to Angola’s Transport Ministry.
The three-day event, held under the theme “Connecting Markets, People and Opportunities”, convened representatives from 27 countries, including government officials, financiers, investors and logistics operators from across the continent and beyond.
Akoojee said the latest program would also examine opportunities in logistics markets, industrial and economic zones, and multimodal transport corridors, and argued that competitive freight systems require coordinated investment in ports, railways, roads, logistics parks and digital services rather than isolated infrastructure projects.
The investment will supplement the company’s existing spending at the Port of Luanda, where DP World says it has invested $260 million to upgrade and digitalize the multipurpose terminal. The company now plans to expand infrastructure and deploy digital platforms intended to reinforce Luanda’s role as an entry and exit point for regional cargo flows.
DP World’s Angola operation stems from a 20-year concession signed with the government in January 2021 to operate the Port of Luanda’s multipurpose terminal. Under the original agreement, the Dubai-based group committed $190 million for rehabilitation, equipment and efficiency improvements, with a target of raising annual terminal capacity to about 700,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). DP World began operating the terminal in March 2021.
That approach aligns with Angola’s broader ambition to diversify an economy long dependent on oil exports. The World Bank describes the Lobito Corridor as a cross-border, multimodal network linking Angola’s Atlantic coast with mining and production areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. While Luanda port is separate from Lobito, both underline Angola’s potential to connect inland markets to international shipping routes.
DP World said 90% of its Angolan workforce is locally recruited, and that training, skills development and employment would form part of the investment’s intended impact. Across Africa, the group has committed a further $3 billion over the next three to five years for ports, logistics hubs and multimodal links.
