At the crossroads of maritime routes, between Europe, Africa and North America, the Autonomous Port of Nouakchott, also called Port of Friendship, occupies a strategic position. A hinterland port for Mali, the infrastructure is expected to play a more important role with the exploitation of the country's significant mineral and hydrocarbon resources. Hence the obvious interest of the country's various economic partners.

Visits to the Autonomous Port of Nouakchott are increasing in the wake of the increase in port traffic and the prospects for developing trade between Mauritania and its partners. This flow is expected to experience significant growth with the start of the exploitation of numerous mining resources, hydrocarbons and green hydrogen.

It is in this context that a large European delegation of industrialists operating in the green energy sector visited the Autonomous Port of Nouakchott on April 25 and 26. This visit aims to assess the infrastructure with a view to developing green hydrogen in Mauritania.

François David Martino, executive president of John Cockerille Management, provides information on his company's activities in the field of green hydrogen and discusses the prospects for cooperation with the port as part of the development of green hydrogen in Mauritania.

For his part, Francesco Pagnini, director of the Italian Foreign Trade Agency, operating at the Italian Embassy in Morocco, with jurisdiction over Mauritania, explains that he made the trip to explore the possible commercial opportunities that could offer the Mauritania and the port of Nouakchott to Italian economic operators.

Explanations were provided to the delegation by Mohamed Ahmed Hamadi, commercial director of the container terminal of the port of Nouakchott who described the services and facilities offered by this new tool put into service from 2022. This terminal has enabled an increase in the traffic with an increase in 2023 of 17.35% in container processing.

The port of Nouakchott, with a quay of 2,025 meters and a draft of 15 meters, is the main port for entering goods into Mauritania and also serves as a hinterland port for Mali, a landlocked country.

Regarding green hydrogen, Mauritania is among the four African countries, along with Morocco, Egypt and Namibia, among the most targeted by European manufacturers in search of a new energy source capable of reducing their dependence on fossil fuels.

Mauritania is targeted by many companies in the energy sector for the production of green hydrogen. The largest renewable energy project in the world is announced in this country by the American CWP Global, active in Europe and Australia, and specialized in renewable energies. This is a Power to X project of 30 GW, or 30,000 MW.

The memorandum of understanding signed by the CEO of CWP Global, Mark Grandall, and the Minister of Oil, Energy and Mines, Abdessalam ould Mohamed Saleh, in May 2021, provides for the development of the project in northern Mauritania on a desert site of 8,500 km2. This important project, called Aman, with an estimated cost of $40 billion, will be the largest investment ever made in the world in renewable energies.

In addition to this, there is the project initiated by the British company Chariot Oil and Gas which intends to carry out its energy transition by investing in renewable energies, in particular green hydrogen. With this in mind, it announced on September 27, 2023, the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Mauritanian Ministry of Energy, aimed at developing a green hydrogen installation with a capacity of 10 GW.

Last week, a delegation of German industrialists stayed in Nouakchott to study the opportunities offered by the country in the fields of agriculture and green hydrogen.

Amadou Seck (Nouakchott, correspondance)