Lobito Corridor faces delivery test as global powers compete for Africa's minerals

The Lobito Corridor is shifting from ambition to reality, with trains beginning to transport copper and cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito.

Built around the historic Benguela railway, the project is designed to speed up mineral exports while reducing reliance on long-distance trucking**.**

Nicholas Fourneir, CEO of Lobito Atlantic Railway, said rail transport offers major environmental benefits.

“Having a train moving these goods is ten times more environmentally friendly than thousands of trucks,” he said, adding that the system also helps companies meet growing environmental and social responsibility goals.

Linking Angola, the DRC, and Zambia, the corridor has been widely framed as a strategic alternative to Chinese dominance in African mining infrastructure, with interest also coming from Europe and the United States.

At its western end, Lobito, a coastal city of around 200,000 people, hosts a natural deep-water port handling minerals, oil, and gas exports.

However, critics warn the project could become another chapter in the global scramble for Africa’s critical minerals unless it delivers tangible economic benefits to local communities across all three countries involved.