Lobito Corridor: Where Policy Meets Private Capital

When leaders, financiers and entrepreneurs gather in Lusaka this November for the EU–Zambia Business Forum, the conversation will be about more than trade. It will be about how public policy and private capital can together reshape Africa’s transport map. At the centre of that discussion sits the Lobito Corridor, a 1,300-kilometre route that connects Zambia’s Copperbelt and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito.

Once a colonial-era rail line, the corridor is now being reimagined as southern Africa’s most strategic logistics artery, linking the continent’s mineral-rich interior with global markets. The project combines the modernisation of Angola’s existing Benguela railway and port with a new greenfield rail link from north-west Zambia to the Angolan border. The plan aims to cut transport times dramatically, lower logistics costs and provide a new outlet for copper, cobalt and a growing range of agricultural and manufactured goods.

For Zambia, geography is turning from challenge to advantage. With eight neighbours and access to a SADC market of over 300 million people, the country is positioned to become a regional trade and manufacturing hub rather than a landlocked economy. The Lobito route will complement existing eastern and southern transport corridors and give producers another path to the sea.

At the policy level, the corridor is backed by the European Union’s Global Gateway Initiative and the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII). Together these frameworks seek to mobilise capital for sustainable and resilient infrastructure in key growth markets. More than €2 billion has already been committed through the Global Gateway for investments and guarantees across Angola, the DRC and Zambia. The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved up to $553 million for the brownfield upgrades of the Lobito Atlantic Railway, while the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which is leading the Zambia-Angola rail development, has pledged up to $500 million to anchor and mobilise further investment.

The Angolan portion of the corridor is operated under a 30-year concession by Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR), a consortium of Trafigura, Mota-Engil and Vecturis, which has already begun upgrading tracks, terminals and rolling stock. The Zambia–Angola rail link is now at the project development stage, with ground-breaking expected in early 2026. Once complete, the entire corridor will connect the interior of southern Africa directly to the Atlantic Ocean, reducing transit times from weeks to days.

Beyond mineral exports, the Lobito Corridor is expected to transform regional value chains. The tripartite MOU between the United States, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo establishes a framework for value-added export chains, linking mineral extraction to processing, component manufacturing and finished goods in the electric-vehicle ecosystem. This cooperation highlights Zambia’s strategic move from exporting raw commodities to building regional manufacturing capacity Zambia is diversifying fast, a net maize exporter, now home to Africa’s second-largest fertiliser plant United Capital Fertiliser, and with an expanding base of food and consumer-goods producers such as Trade Kings’ Kingsworth Group Limited (KGL). Its newly commissioned glucose and starch plant will draw 126,000MT of maize a year from local farmers to produce starch, glucose, maltodextrin and animal feed for the region’s food and manufacturing industries. This reflects the scale of industrial expansion now underway, reshaping the region’s value chains; processing maize, sugar and oils for regional export.

Energy and sustainability are integral to the corridor’s success. Investors see the rail spine as the backbone for a new regional power grid linking Zambia’s hydro and solar generation with industrial zones along the route. The recent waiver of import tariffs on solar equipment has already encouraged more businesses to adopt hybrid energy models, signalling how regulatory reforms can stimulate private investment and enhance competitiveness.

Financing for the corridor combines public capital for risk-sharing and private investment for scale. This blend allows governments, DFIs and commercial investors to work within a single ecosystem. The structure includes core transport assets such as rail operations, depots and ports, as well as adjacent opportunities in agriculture, FMCG logistics, renewable power and trade finance for SMEs that will supply goods and services under Zambia’s 2024 Local Content Regulations.

For investors, the corridor offers several key advantages: a clear long-term concession model, multiple revenue streams from freight and warehousing, and strong policy alignment under the EU and G7 frameworks. For Zambia, it means new jobs, export diversification and the chance to demonstrate that coordinated policy and capital investment can achieve measurable results.

The timeline is ambitious. Brownfield upgrades and port works continue through 2025. Ground-breaking for the Zambia-Angola section is planned for early 2026, with phased construction and intermodal integration through 2028. By 2026, Lobito Atlantic Railway expects to move about 40,000 tonnes of cargo per month in each direction, with an ambition of 1.5 million tonnes per year within the decade.

Ultimately, the corridor’s impact will be measured not only in kilometres of track but in its ability to reduce transit times, cut logistics costs and broaden trade participation. For Zambia, the success of the Lobito Corridor would mark the transition from a land-locked state to a land-linked economy at the heart of southern Africa’s growth story.

As business leaders gather in Lusaka for the Forum, one message stands out. If policy builds the path and capital follows, the Lobito Corridor could become one of the most consequential infrastructure projects in Africa, reshaping not only transport routes but the economic geography of an entire region.