The Rigel ship arrived at the port of Yantai in China last week carrying 300,000 tonnes of bauxite loaded at the port of Boké in Guinea. The Consortium and the shipping industry have considered the arrival of this bauxite shipment in China as a new record in terms of tonnage for bauxite transport. SMB-Winning Consortium is aiming at increasing Guinea’s bauxite production to more than 40 million tonnes in 2019 and is working on the production and transport infrastructure to facilitate the same.
Commenting on the shipment, Sun Xiunshun, President of the SMB-Winning Consortium said: "The arrival of the Rigel ship with its 300,000 tonnes of bauxite at the port of Yantai illustrates the key role of logistics in the success of the SMB-Winning Consortium. As we aim for a continuous increase in production in the coming years, our success will lie in our logistics capacities, including maritime transport, in order to be able to sell our production."
Traditionally bauxite producers in Guinea evacuate ore by rail in Guinea. The SMB-Winning Consortium used the Winning Alliance Port as early as 2015 to transport bauxite by barge up the Rio Nunez River and then loaded onto capesize ships with a capacity of around 200,000 tonnes on the high seas. SMB exported about 36 million tonnes of bauxite to China in 2018 from Boké port, composed of the Katougouma and Dapilon terminals consisting of nine docks.
The port of Yantai is a key port in the Gulf of Bohai for the transport of bauxite to China. With its deep-water docks the port has been a leading player for bauxite loading and unloading with a capacity of about 100 million tonnes.
The SMB-Winning consortium is comprised of Singapore's Winning Shipping Ltd, the Yantai Port Group, UMS; a transport and logistics company in Guinea and Shandong Weiqiao; a leading Chinese aluminium producer. The Republic of Guinea is a 10% shareholder in the group, which is involved in the extraction, production and transport of bauxite in Guinea.
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