For information on Cote d'Ivoire Transporters contacts and fleet size information, please see the following link: Cote d'Ivoire Transport Companies

There are very few nationwide haulage companies spanning the entire country. The road transport sector is based on small private companies owning 2 to 3 trucks, sometimes 5 but not more. Sometimes these small companies organize themselves in clusters spreading the transport demand or offer according to their abilities, capacities and type of trucks available. Hauliers have organized themselves in regional syndicates. Sometimes two or more syndicates are located in the same town. Some syndicates claim to control over 300 trucks.

The road transport operations are divided into two main categories:

• Long distance haulage mainly over bitumen / paved roads.
• Short distance haulage over secondary and often severely damaged roads.

Long distance hauliers operate mainly second hand RENAULT – DAF – MERCEDES horse trailer combination with an average capacity of 25 – 35 MT. The trailers, flatbed or covered, are usually 40 feet/12 meters long and are often fitted with twist locks. Some horses are equipped with a twin rear axle but most have only one rear axle. Trailers are fitted with a twin or treble axle. Hauliers are reasonably satisfied with the supply of spare part, tyres and lubricating oil. Long distance hauliers require between 2 and 7 days to put up the required road transport facility in line. Hauliers of CI are not keen of lifting cargoes destined to Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana or Guinea. Though they can claim 1/3 of the volumes, such shipments are usually left to the respective foreign hauliers. They claim difficulty in securing returning cargoes into CI.

Hauliers indicated the following transit times:

• Abidjan to Ouagadougou or Bamako: one full week.
• One complete truck rotation: 21 days.

For short haul secondary transport operations haulers favour solid chassis trucks capacity 10 to 15 MT and one or two rear axles. Mercedes, Daf or Isuzu are the most common trucks, often bought second hand from specialized dealers. The trucks suffer heavy wear and tear as a result of the extremely bad road conditions. Downtime for repair and maintenance is recurrent. This category of hauliers is poorly organized often with reduced communication facilities and limited back-office services. A close follow-up and monitoring of the transport operations is therefore mandatory. When the road is extremely bad, as is the case for the road corridors leading from CI into Guinea ( Odienné – Minignan, Biankouma – Sipilou or Danané – Gpableu) the use of HD so called 12 wheel trucks (usually second-hand trucks operating on construction sites in Europe) must be contemplated ( Lifting capacity 15 to 20 MT). Such trucks are nonexistent in Côte d’Ivoire. Only Guinean hauliers are operating such type of trucks. Such trucks do not operate on long distance haul. Consequently the transhipment of commodities from a long distance carrier into a 12 wheel trucks must be contemplated at a suitable transit point (Odienné, Biankouma or Danané). This raises storage and security issues not to forget customs clearance issues for the truck ID and the quantities lifted will not be similar on arrival as on departure. The customs bond issue must be cleared with the C & F agent before such transit – transhipment operation is contemplated. The financial implications could be severe. Caution must be exercised.

For information on Cote d'Ivoire Transporters contacts and fleet size information, please see the following document: Cote d'Ivoire Transport Companies