DAKAR

Dakar is located on the western coast of Senegal (full name: THE REPUBLIC OF SENEGAL) on the west coast of the GOREE Bay, bordering the east side of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the largest port in Senegal and the largest seaport in West Africa. Founded in 1861, it is now the capital of Senegal and the political, economic, and transportation center of the country. It is an important transit port and refueling port for the Atlantic route, and an extremely important transportation hub in West Africa. The railway runs north to the port of St. Louis and east to the neighboring Malian capital Bamako. The THIES area near the port has a reserve of approximately 40 million tons of aluminum phosphate and abundant calcium phosphate deposits along a 96 kilometer stretch of the northeast coast. The main industries include large-scale oil extraction, food, tobacco, textile, printing and dyeing, canned fish, petroleum refining, shipbuilding, and chemistry. The fishing resources along the coast of the port are abundant. It is rich in tuna and sardine, with an average annual tuna catch of more than 20000 tons, so it has the reputation of "tuna port". The port can be regarded as the cultural center of Senegal, with African studies, maritime history, ethnology, art museums, archaeological museums, and more. The international airport of the port is not only a domestic hub, but also an aviation hub in West Africa, with air connections to Europe, North America, South America, and various parts of Africa. The port has a tropical grassland climate, with prevailing northeast winds in winter and northwest winds in summer. The annual average temperature is about 29 ℃. There are about 11 days of strong winds and 7 days of foggy days every year. The average annual rainfall is about 600mm, and the rainy season is from June to November. The average tidal range is about 1.8 meters. There are various types of loading and unloading equipment, including shore cranes, mobile cranes, floating cranes, truck cranes, forklifts, and tugboats. Among them, the maximum lifting capacity of mobile cranes is 100 tons, the maximum power of tugboats is 1470 kW, and there are also oil pipelines with diameters of 150-300mm for loading and unloading. Loading and unloading rates: 7000 tons of fertilizer per day, 900 tons of phosphate per hour, and 4000 tons of bulk grain per day. The Hong Kong Free Trade Zone was established in 1975 with an area of 6.5 million square meters. The annual cargo throughput is about 8 million tons. The main export goods are peanuts, peanut oil, fish, phosphates, paper, cement, leather shoes, cloth, matches, and flour. The main import goods include textiles, machinery, rice, coal, sugar, cotton, wood, pottery, petroleum, and metal products. The export value of peanuts accounts for about 52% of the total export value, and all exported peanuts, peanut oil, fish, and phosphates are shipped to France.