Abidjan’s port reports 13 percent increase in traffic.

From Reuters:

Traffic at the port of Abidjan rose by 13 percent in 2007 to reach a record 21.4 million tonnes as the economy of the world's top cocoa exporter recovered from a 2002-2003 war, the port's general director said on Thursday.

Marcel Gossio said the increase in freight, which came despite a fall in cocoa exports last year, was driven by an economic recovery in Ivory Coast as the former French colony edged toward reunification and elections scheduled for mid-2008.

Ivory Coast has been divided into a rebel-controlled north and a government-held south since the conflict.

The division had slashed shipments through Abidjan as landlocked countries to the north, like Mali and Burkina Faso, turned to other regional ports to move goods.