The diplomatic rupture between Benin and Niger has redrawn the map of West African trade, yet it has not dimmed activity at the Port of Cotonou. Far from it. The Beninese platform has steadily redirected part of its traffic toward other landlocked markets, with Burkina Faso now leading the way. In 2025, close to one million tonnes of goods — overwhelmingly petroleum products — passed through Cotonou en route to the Sahelian nation. Early figures for 2026 confirm the momentum: 7.79 million tonnes handled in the first half, a 16.6% jump year on year. Behind the headline numbers lie tangible consequences for ordinary citizens and businesses across the region — from fuel prices at Ouagadougou pumps to jobs along the corridor and revenues flowing into Benin’s treasury.
The Niger shock that reshuffled the deck
For years, Niger was the primary outlet for Cotonou’s transit traffic. Geographic proximity and the road corridor linking the port to Niamey had made the Beninese platform a preferred gateway for Niger’s economy.
The political crisis that erupted in Niger in July 2023, followed by the deterioration of relations between Niamey and Cotonou, deeply disrupted that mechanism. The closure of the land border between the two countries and tensions over the routing of Nigerien oil weakened the historic corridor.
Yet the port was not condemned to absorb the blow passively. Its operators gradually sought new relays in the hinterland, while the needs of landlocked economies continued to sustain demand for transit services.
It was in this context that Burkina Faso changed scale.
Burkina Faso becomes the new engine of transit
Data presented by the commercial directorate of the Port Autonome de Cotonou during a 2026 industry gathering reveal the extent of this shift. In 2025, transit accounted for 39.2% of port traffic. Burkina Faso captured 16% of that, representing nearly one million tonnes of goods moved to the country — largely in the form of hydrocarbons.
The figure is significant. It reflects less the sudden emergence of a new corridor than the acceleration of an already existing trade route. Burkina Faso has long had several access routes to the sea — Abidjan, Lomé, Tema and Cotonou — and arbitrates between them based on cost, fluidity, and political and security conditions.
The deterioration of the Benin-Niger axis therefore created a window of opportunity for Burkinabè traffic.
The phenomenon is particularly visible in the fuel market. Landlocked and facing substantial energy needs, Burkina Faso depends on Gulf of Guinea ports for part of its petroleum product supplies. Cotonou can thus serve as an entry platform before cargoes are moved to Ouagadougou and other regions of the country.
Hydrocarbons at the heart of the shift
The weight of hydrocarbons in flows destined for Burkina Faso is no accident. These goods generate large volumes and require a regular logistics chain between the port, storage facilities and the regional road network.
This specialisation partly explains why Burkina Faso has become such a visible outlet in PAC transit statistics.
It also helps explain why the port now seeks to consolidate its role as a regional hub. Traffic growth no longer rests solely on serving the Beninese market, but on Cotonou’s ability to connect coastal economies to landlocked markets.
2026 Confirms Cotonou’s resilience
Early results for 2026 show that this diversification strategy is bearing fruit, even if available statistics do not yet allow a precise measurement of Burkinabè tonnage for the full year.
In the first half of 2026, the port handled 7.79 million tonnes of goods, against 6.68 million in the same period of 2025 — a rise of 16.6%.
This increase follows an already exceptional 2025. Annual port traffic then rose from 9.6 million to 14.7 million tonnes, a growth rate of 52%.
The composition of 2026 growth nonetheless merits attention. Imports are almost flat: 4.12 million tonnes against 4.10 million a year earlier, a rise limited to 0.6%. Exports, by contrast, surged 33.3%, from 2.16 to 2.87 million tonnes.
Transhipment recorded spectacular growth: 516,558 tonnes in the first half of 2026, against 204,928 tonnes a year earlier — an increase of 152.1%.
These figures do not directly measure road traffic to Burkina Faso. They nevertheless show that Cotonou is strengthening its role as a regional redistribution platform, at the very moment when old trade routes are being thoroughly reconfigured.
A corridor set to matter even more
For Burkina Faso, the stakes are strategic. The multiplication of political and security tensions in the region has made corridor diversification indispensable. No single port can be considered a unique and definitive solution for a landlocked country.
In this competitive landscape, Cotonou nonetheless holds an advantage: geographic proximity to Burkina Faso and the existence of a road corridor historically used by Burkinabè operators. The Beninese port also has modernised infrastructure and is seeking to reduce processing times and improve traffic fluidity. The PAC has notably digitalised the management of truck movements to facilitate clearance and transit operations.
The battle is therefore now fought as much on infrastructure as on political stability and corridor security.
Niger is not definitively out of the game
This new transit geography does not mean the Nigerien market is destined to disappear from Cotonou’s horizon for good.
Proof comes from oil flows. In 2026, Nigerien crude continues to use Beninese infrastructure to reach international markets. A one-million-barrel cargo was notably shipped from the Sèmè-Kpodji terminal in August 2026.
The commercial relationship between the two countries thus remains paradoxical: the diplomatic dispute disrupts part of overland trade, but the two economies remain linked by strategic infrastructure.
For Cotonou, the challenge is therefore to no longer depend excessively on a single hinterland market. Burkina Faso appears as one of the most promising answers to this new reality.
A realignment built to last?
With nearly one million tonnes of goods in transit to Burkina Faso in 2025, the country has established itself among the main outlets of the Beninese port. Available figures for 2026 do not yet allow confirmation that this volume has been maintained or exceeded, given the lack of detailed half-year data by destination.
They nonetheless deliver an essential lesson: despite the shock to the Nigerien corridor, Cotonou continues to progress. With 7.79 million tonnes in the first half of 2026, against 6.68 million a year earlier, the port confirms its capacity to absorb and redistribute new flows.
Burkina Faso thus finds itself at the heart of a broader transformation. For Cotonou, the goal is no longer merely to compensate for the loss of part of Nigerien traffic, but to build a port model less dependent on a single corridor.
The question now is whether this redistribution of cards will prove durable. If Burkinabè traffic continues to grow, the Cotonou-Ouagadougou corridor could establish itself as one of the new structuring axes of regional trade. And the Beninese port, long associated with the Nigerien market, could well change face.
