China’s port “brain” goes global—when African Quays are equipped with the “Chinese brain”

In recent years, China has steadily accelerated its port‑building efforts in Africa. According to official statistics, China has participated in the investment, construction, or operation of approximately 78 ports across 32 African countries, spanning a vast region from West Africa to East Africa and from North Africa to Southern Africa. These ports have provided a crucial foothold for Chinese enterprises seeking to expand into the African market, jointly writing a new chapter in China‑Africa cooperation.

Africa, endowed with abundant resources, has become an integral link in the global industrial chain. According to statistics, the continent holds roughly one-third of the world’s mineral reserves and boasts substantial fossil‑energy resources. Moreover, its population is growing rapidly, endowing it with immense market potential. Today, major economies around the world are increasingly investing in Africa.

China has a massive demand for mineral resources. While heavily investing in African resources, it is also leveraging its reputation as an “infrastructure powerhouse” to actively develop infrastructure.

In addition to well-known land-based transport projects such as the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway and the Tanzania–Zambia Railway, China has also invested in, built, and operated dozens of ports across Africa.

Let’s take a look together.

01 The Port Landscape of Chinese Enterprises in Africa

As of 2025, Africa has a total of 231 commercial ports, 78 of which involve Chinese companies in construction, financing, or operations, spanning 32 countries. Regionally, West Africa accounts for the largest share with 35 ports, followed by East Africa with 17, Southern Africa with 15, and North Africa with 11.

Chinese enterprises adopt diverse participation models. Approximately one-third of projects focus primarily on construction and renovation, such as the Dar es Salaam Port expansion and upgrade project undertaken by China Harbour Engineering Company. This port handles more than 90% of Tanzania’s cargo and, linked to the Tanzania–Zambia Railway, has become a key logistics hub in East Africa.

On the financing side, China Development Bank provided 70% of the funding for the Pointe-Noire Deepwater Port project in the Republic of the Congo, while China Road and Bridge Corporation undertook the construction. The Port of Pointe-Noire handles more than 90% of the country’s import and export cargo, with its Container throughput/ volume accounting for 42% of Central Africa.

On the operational front, China Merchants Port acquired a 50% stake in the container terminal at Togo’s Lomé Quay for €150 million, securing operating rights. Lomé Port is a rare natural deep-water port in West Africa. Currently, Chinese companies hold operating concessions at 10 African ports and are transitioning from an “investment–construction–operation” model to a BOT framework.

HIRI FUTURE’s technological expansion overseas has precisely filled the technological gap in the operational phase.

Having been verified at more than 80 domestic and international ports, HIRI’s independently developed Autonomous driving system for port equipment, multi-sensor fusion perception system, unmanned loading and unloading and horizontal transport system, as well as Intelligent gate and container recognition systems, can help partner ports improve handling efficiency and significantly reduce vessel turnaround time. For African countries that urgently need to convert mineral resources into foreign exchange, this is undoubtedly a vital step in opening up their economic lifelines.

Currently, HIRI FUTURE is focusing on tackling cutting-edge areas such as port AI large models, Intelligent agents, and multimodal perception fusion. The company plans to launch an expansion project for its R&D center in 2027, proactively building a quantum-classical hybrid computing laboratory and a multimodal perception simulation platform. It will prioritize serving the Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS countries, helping ports achieve green, digital, and Intelligent transformation.

02 How much opportunity can these ports bring?

At the corporate level, port construction in Africa has not only opened up engineering contracting markets for Chinese infrastructure firms but has also given rise to a high-value-added growth sector: Intelligent and automation systems for ports. In the past, African ports largely relied on technological solutions from Europe and the United States or established industrial nations, which were costly and faced challenges in post‑implementation maintenance and poor adaptability. Today, as a number of modern ports built by China in Africa are gradually commissioned, these emerging ports urgently need to shift from “building” to “managing well and operating efficiently,” presenting a historic opportunity for Chinese providers of smart port solutions.

First, African ports face a significant gap in the demand for Intelligent upgrades. Many African ports still rely heavily on manual operations, resulting in low operational efficiency, frequent safety incidents, and severe data silos. In contrast, Chinese companies’ newly built or expanded ports in Africa—such as Nigeria’s Lekki Deepwater Port and Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam Port—start from a high baseline with state-of-the-art equipment, fully equipped to directly deploy automation and Intelligent systems. This is akin to applying cutting-edge AI technologies straightaway on “untapped land,” enabling leapfrog development.

▲Lomé Port in West Africa (Photo: PAL)

Secondly, China’s port‑intelligence solutions have attained global competitiveness, enabling them to break through the technological barriers erected by international giants. Take “HIRI FUTURE,” a brand under Fujian Electronic Port Co., Ltd., as an example: the company’s independently developed port AI system encompasses automated port machinery, intelligent safety systems, and digitalized Procedures, with core algorithms and hardware entirely domestically produced. Domestic sensors, edge‑computing devices, and an Intelligent scheduling platform have demonstrated real‑time performance, accuracy, and Stability in complex port environments that are on par with, or even surpass, their European and American counterparts. In the past, the port automation sector was long dominated by international giants such as ABB, Siemens, and Kalmar; today, HIRI FUTURE’s intelligent products and solutions have been successfully deployed at China’s core ports—including Tianjin Port, Guangzhou Port, Ningbo Port, and Xiamen Port—as well as in Belt and Road countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, and Sri Lanka. With over 3,500 sets of equipment and practical verification across more than 80 large ports, these deployments have demonstrated the remarkable leap of the Chinese solution—from “usable” to “easy to use” and ultimately to “leading.”

HIRI FUTURE Global Performance Distribution Map

In 2025, “HIRI FUTURE” will build its first overseas full-machine project for an Intelligent Empty Container Stack yard in Singapore. To address the challenge of obstructed visibility during ultra-high-altitude operations at 48.3 meters, the team abandoned traditional LiDAR and adopted a pure-vision dynamic stacking system based on a large AI model, achieving millimeter-level precision positioning. Coupled with a multi‑mechanism collaborative Spreader Anti-Sway System, the system keeps the Spreader’s swing within ±3 centimeters, significantly reducing the time required to pick up and place containers. After the upgrade, operational efficiency is expected to reach 18 moves per hour—exceeding the owner’s technical specifications.

This benchmark case has also provided a replicable “Fujian model” for the Intelligent upgrading of ports in Africa and around the world.

▲ HIRI FUTURE Collection Card Positioning Intelligent Entity Diagram

Finally, this also marks China’s transition from “infrastructure export” to “technology export.” As Chinese companies operate AI systems powered by domestically produced chips at African ports and leverage Chinese algorithms to optimize logistics nodes in global trade, the transformation extends beyond efficiency—it reshapes the international supply chain’s perception of Chinese manufacturing. In the past, China was the “world’s factory”; in the future, China may well become the architect of the “world’s digital ports.” For technology firms like HIRI FUTURE, every newly built Chinese‑backed port in Africa, as well as every critical hub in the Indian Ocean awaiting upgrade, serves as a “showcase” for technological implementation—helping Chinese enterprises accumulate data and experience in increasingly complex scenarios, feeding these insights back into domestic R&D, while simultaneously unlocking broader markets in South America, the Middle East, Europe, and beyond.

03 Why is China building ports on a large scale in Africa?

Africa’s coastline is straight, with few natural harbors; historically, infrastructure investment has been insufficient, and after independence, some countries have also faced financial and technological challenges.

Maritime transport remains the world’s dominant mode of cargo transportation, and Africa has an urgent need for modern ports.

For Chinese enterprises, participating in the development of African ports has yielded multifaceted positive outcomes:

01 Promote resource trade

Africa is an important source of copper, oil, cobalt, and other resources for China. Improvements in port conditions help reduce logistics costs and enhance Supply Chain Stability.

02 Accumulating Technology and Experience

Africa’s climate and geological conditions are diverse—high temperatures, aridity, humidity, and complex geology—providing valuable opportunities for construction firms to hone their skills. For example, at the Port of Dar es Salaam, where working spaces were narrow and seawater salinity was high, Chinese companies employed a rolling Berth construction approach and prestressed high-strength concrete technology, successfully overcoming significant engineering challenges. These project experiences have significantly enhanced the international competitiveness of Chinese enterprises.

03 Enhancing Project Management and International Financing Capacity

African infrastructure projects are large in scale and long in duration, and African countries often hire Western supervision firms. In such a complex environment, Chinese enterprises can significantly enhance their project management capacity, adaptability, and localization capabilities. At the same time, participating in these projects makes it easier to secure funding and technical support from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank, further bolstering Chinese companies’ reputation and financing capacity in the global market.

04 Enhancing Mutual Understanding

Infrastructure development, while improving local livelihoods, has also fostered people-to-people exchanges and business cooperation between China and Africa.

When the African Quay is equipped with a “Chinese brain,” what we see is not only an improvement in efficiency, but also a transformation of China’s strength—shifting from exporting the steel backbone of “hard infrastructure” to exporting the smart nerves of “soft power.”

Against the backdrop of the ongoing evolution of the global trade system, port development has become an important link for China to foster mutually beneficial trade relations with Africa and many other countries. Such cooperation is grounded in practical needs and emphasizes long-term win-win outcomes, thereby boosting Africa’s economic development while expanding international market opportunities for Chinese enterprises, jointly shaping a bright future for China–Africa cooperation.