Cape Verde is a country and archipelago located off the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal, which has always been part of the cruise routes that circumnavigate the continent. With the construction of a cruise terminal, they hope to further boost this type of tourism and increase the number of port calls.
Article from CruisesNews magazine no. 62 – September 2022
It has no shortage of attractions, as Cape Verde, made up of ten large islands and five smaller ones, boasts unique landscapes, paradisiacal beaches, and its own Creole culture, formed from the mixture of Portuguese colonialism with African roots.
The new cruise terminal will be built in Mindelo, the capital of São Vicente Island, a city of 70,000 inhabitants with a vibrant fishing and tourism industry. It is considered the most cosmopolitan and European town in the archipelago, boasting a lively nightlife and cultural scene. Cape Verdeans are known for their "morabeza," a term that describes them as friendly people who extend their hospitality to all visitors.
For most of the year, temperatures range between 20°C and 30°C, making the city an ideal destination for tourism. Rainfall is more frequent between August and February, while the rest of the year is virtually dry.
Mindelo offers attractive options for cruise ship passengers, such as the former governor's mansion, the municipal market, and the Maritime Museum, among others. Excursions often include visits to Monte Verde, the highest peak on São Vicente, and the agricultural and fishing villages of Salamansa, Baia des Gatas, Norte Baia, and Calhau.
Mindelo boasts beautiful, unspoiled white-sand beaches, panoramic plains, and stunning cliffs with breathtaking views. Some of these beaches have restaurants serving typical Cape Verdean cuisine, such as cachupa, a traditional stew of beans, corn, vegetables, egg, and fish. Seafood rice and barnacle stew are also popular dishes.
Cruise Terminal: A Project to Bring Centrality to Mindelo and Cape Verde.
The laying of the foundation stone for the Mindelo Cruise Terminal took place on January 19, 2022, marking the start of construction on one of the largest projects in the country.
This marks the beginning of a new chapter in the national cruise tourism sector, which, within the framework of the Special Economic Zone for Maritime Economy (ZEEM), will foster complementarities and integration among the economies of northern Cape Verde.
Given its value and impact on tourism, the Mindelo Cruise Terminal Project is a necessary element and a significant instrument for boosting the archipelago's economy, fulfilling the government's strategy to consolidate tourism as one of the pillars of Cape Verde's economy, developing it sustainably and leveraging its natural and human resources.
With this project, Mindelo will have an innovative, modern Cruise Terminal with very advanced technical features and, due to its location, will contribute to the sustainable growth of the islands of São Vicente and Santo Antão.
Transforming Cape Verde into a Leading Tourist Destination:
Tourism and maritime activities have historical significance and, in some sectors, high development potential due to the islands' natural characteristics and existing infrastructure.
For sustainable growth in the tourism sector, it is necessary to improve the quantity and quality of tourist attractions and services currently available in the archipelago. With the opening of the Mindelo Cruise Terminal, it is expected to increase the scale and size of the number of tourists who can visit, spend money, enjoy entertainment, access services and diverse products, and enable markets—from agri-food and creative industries to fisheries products—to transform Carnival into a de facto industry.
Around 48,500 cruise tourists visited Cape Verde in 2019, a 3% increase compared to 2018. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cruise tourism came to a standstill, but some countries have gradually resumed operations. It is expected that, with the construction of the Mindelo Cruise Terminal and the improvement of global health conditions, the country will receive around 200,000 tourists annually.
The construction of the Mindelo Cruise Terminal is being carried out by the Portuguese-Cape Verdean consortium formed by the companies Mota-Engil – Engenharia e Construção, SA and Empreitel Figueiredo, SA, which won the competitive bidding process for the contractor selection.
The project will involve the recovery of a land area, called “Puente Terral”, with 2,700 square meters (m2), and the dredging of approximately 124,000 cubic meters in the port basin and access channel.
The new cruise terminal will be built in Mindelo, the capital of Sao Vicente Island.
Among other features, the project includes the construction of a 400-meter-long mooring pontoon, 11 meters deep, and another 450-meter-long pontoon, 9.5 meters deep, as well as a 12-meter-wide pier, a passenger terminal, a tourist village, and a residential area.
It also includes the construction of a 900 m² tourist reception building, called the "Visitor Welcome Center," and 6,150 m² of parking for taxis and support buses.
The project is co-financed by the Netherlands' Orio Fund and the OPEC Fund for International Development.
