The Lobito Corridor: A New Railway for African Copper
Background. The corridor is already carrying metal on its Angolan leg. For how the rehabilitated Benguela Railway reopened and who runs it, see Congo’s Copper Returns to the Lobito Corridor as the West’s Mineral Railway Reopens, which now carries the August 2026 African Development Bank approval as an update. Africa · Infrastructure Key Facts Loan […] The post The Lobito Corridor: A New Railway…
The Lobito Corridor is a new railway project aimed at transporting copper from Zambia to Atlantic basin ports. The African Development Bank approved $255 million for Zambia's segment in August 2026, just before Zambia's presidential election. The United States and European Union view the corridor as a response to China's railway infrastructure in Africa.
The project includes a greenfield railway of 550 km connecting Zambia to Angola's Lobito port, as well as upgrades to the Mwinilunga-Jimbe road, which feeds the rail network. The Zambian section is a completely new infrastructure built from scratch. The Angolan leg of the corridor involves rehabilitating the 1,300 km Benguela Railway, which has been under a 30-year concession since 2022 to a consortium that moves Congolese copper and cobalt to Lobito.
The new route cuts the movement of copper from Zambia's Copperbelt region to the coast to about seven days, compared to weeks on the old route. This reduction in transit time is expected to lower export costs by 30% on average and shorten export times from 35 days to one week. The European Union is the largest foreign backer of the corridor, while the United States and European Union frame it as a Western answer to China's railway infrastructure in Africa.
The Lobito Corridor competes with Chile and Peru's Andean copper for the same Atlantic-basin and European buyers, potentially affecting pricing power for Andean producers. The project's success depends on political stability in Angola and Zambia, as two elections are scheduled in two years. Although the US$2.7 billion committed so far does not guarantee the project's completion, the Western government backing provides some cushion against political risk.
Written by urgent.news from The Rio Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
