Lobito: the Copperbelt's Atlantic railway.

Cargo leaves the Kolwezi area by rail to the border at Dilolo, joins the Benguela Railway at Luau and runs west across Angola to the port of Lobito. The railway was rebuilt after Angola's civil war and reopened to the border in 2015.

In 2022 a consortium of Trafigura, Mota-Engil and Vecturis — the Lobito Atlantic Railway — took a 30-year concession to run the line and the Lobito mineral terminal. The United States, the European Union and development banks have backed the corridor, including a planned new line into north-west Zambia.

• Shorter ocean leg to Europe and the US east coast than east-coast ports.
• Rail rather than long-haul trucking: fewer border delays and less cargo handling.
• A single operator from the mine region to the quay, which simplifies chain-of-custody records.

• Rail capacity is still growing; volumes are allocated and not every producer has a slot.
• DRC export formalities (CEEC for certain minerals, customs at Kasumbalesa or Dilolo) and DRC cobalt export quotas apply before cargo moves.
• Load-port inspection and sampling at Lobito should be agreed in the contract.