Mota-Engil to build São Vicente cruise ship terminal

A Portuguese-Cape Verdean consortium comprised of Mota-Engil and Empreitel Figueiredo will build the Mindelo Cruise Terminal on the island of São Vicente, one of the largest public works of recent years in Cape Verde, it was announced on Thursday.

“Having obtained the ‘non-objection of the project’s funders, the signing of the contract with the selected contractor will take place in the next few days,” public company Enapor, which manages the archipelago’s ports, announced in a statement, adding that the work will cost just under €26.5 million and is expected to take 22 months.

“The work will involve building a 2,700 square metre embankment, called the ‘Land Bridge’, the dredging of approximately 124,000 cubic metres in the port basin and access channel and the rehabilitation of quay nine, which will now serve small recreational vessels,” Enapor adds.

In its “most important component,” it also involves the construction of a 400-metre-long docking pier, with a depth of 11 metres to the north and nine metres to the south, as well as a passenger terminal with an area of 900 square metres and respective external development, including a car park.

“This project means Mindelo will have an innovative, modern cruise terminal with very advanced technical features,” Enapor said.

Around 48,500 tourists on cruise trips visited Cape Verde in 2019, an increase of 3% compared to 2018.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cruise ship tourism came to a stand-still. Still, some countries have gradually resumed the activity,” and it is expected that with the construction of the Mindelo Cruise Terminal and the improvement of sanitary conditions worldwide, the country will start receiving around 200,000 cruise tourists annually.”

This work is co-financed by the ORIO Fund, the Netherlands, and the OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Fund for International Development.