Angola’s Lobito Corridor is a key element of the U.S. strategy to source critical minerals, offering a transport route for copper exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has signed a $553 million loan agreement with the consortium developing the Lobito Corridor, delivering on a funding pledge made last year under former President Joe Biden and reaffirming the project’s strategic importance for the United States.

The signing ceremony was held on Wednesday, Dec. 17, and attended by executives from Trafigura and Mota Engil, the two main members of the consortium that holds the concession for the corridor. Angola’s Transport Minister Ricardo D’Abreu and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Caleb Orr were also present. The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is providing an additional $200 million loan for the project.

The DFC financing will support the rehabilitation of the Port of Lobito and a roughly 1,300-kilometre railway line designed to facilitate the transport of mining output from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project aims to increase the corridor’s transport capacity tenfold to 4.6 million tonnes per year while cutting transport costs by 30%, according to the DFC.

The corridor is promoted as a faster route for shipping copper and cobalt from the DRC, with rail transport expected to reduce transit times to about two days compared with around 45 days by road. The project also strengthens Washington’s influence over logistics networks critical to African mineral supply chains, a sector currently dominated by China.

U.S.-China competition

Washington is also backing plans to extend the network into the DRC. The DFC has issued a letter of intent to Mota Engil to finance the rehabilitation of the Dilolo–Sakania railway line. Estimated to cost more than $1 billion, the project includes an extension to the Zambian border, potentially enabling the Lobito Corridor to handle copper shipments from Africa’s two largest producers.

As part of its competition with China over African critical minerals, the United States is stepping up investments at a time when Beijing is also reinforcing alternative logistics routes. During a visit to Lusaka last month, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang signed an agreement with the Zambian and Tanzanian governments to rehabilitate the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA). The $1.4 billion project covers the 1,860-kilometre line linking Zambia’s copper belt to international markets via the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean.

While U.S.-China rivalry is driving investment in strategic logistics infrastructure, African policymakers face additional challenges. At Lobito, the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) has warned of uncertainty over the corridor’s business model, which currently depends on a single mining operator, Ivanhoe Mines, a company controlled by Chinese investors. More broadly, analysts caution that such projects risk reinforcing the continent’s role as a raw-materials exporter, with limited participation in higher-value segments of the supply chain.

Emiliano Tossou