The wind on the east coast of the Mediterranean swept over Annaba Port, creating a fine taste of sea salt. On August 12, 2026, a signing ceremony once again brought this old North African port into the spotlight - Ambassador to Algeria Dong Guangli and Minister of State and Oil and Gas Alcab sat side by side, while six ministers including Energy, Mining, and Public Works, President of the National Oil Company of Algeria, and Deputy General Manager of China Communications Corporation Chen Zhong sat in the same seat. When the pen tip falls, the phosphate mines in the eastern mountains of Algeria are tightly linked to the berths on the Mediterranean coast by an invisible industrial chain.

From mines to seaports

Algeria has approximately 2.2 billion tons of phosphate reserves, ranking among the top in the world, but has long been trapped by a single oil and gas finance. The integrated phosphate mining project is the key to its economic diversification and industrialization, covering the entire process of mining, transportation, processing, and export, forming a closed loop of mining area railway processing plant Annaba Port.

The Annaba Port Facility Phase II, which China Harbour has signed a contract to construct, adopts the EPC model and has a construction period of 36 months. It includes 6 loading and unloading berths, railway loading and unloading stations, warehousing, fire maintenance and other supporting facilities. After completion, it will connect the eastern mineral transportation nodes and allow phosphate ore and fertilizer products to directly reach the China Sea route.

The two countries work together to promote projects

At the ceremony, Dong Guangli looked back at the cooperation context under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state: China and Argentina are good friends of mutual trust and partners of common development, and high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road is continuing to deepen. China is willing to continue to expand the space for both sides' enterprises and inject new impetus into the comprehensive strategic partnership.

Alcab, as the host, highlighted the importance of the project - it is not just an engineering contract, but also an engine for Algeria to bid farewell to oil and gas dependence and shift towards manufacturing and exports. He took stock of the traces of China's early involvement one by one: in 2018, CITIC Construction entered the $6 billion phosphate framework, in 2022, China's Fifth Ring Road and Yunnan Tian'an Chemical Industry formed a nearly $7 billion fertilizer joint venture, by the end of 2024, China Harbour's "Tongli" ship had dredged and dredged at Annaba Port, in July 2026, the port officially won the bid for the port construction project, and by August 12, the overall integration agreement was signed, with a pace of interlocking.

Port lifts new chain

Annaba Port is about 430 kilometers away from the capital and is the only core hub for mineral exports in eastern Afghanistan. After the second phase of supporting railway loading and unloading stations, the raw ore extracted from the Taibesa mining area will be transported directly to the port through the railway and stored in the yard. The processed phosphoric acid and fertilizer will be loaded onto ships for export, reducing both logistics losses and time costs.

For Algeria, during the construction phase of the project, it was estimated that over 12000 direct jobs would be created, and the production period would drive thousands of fixed jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs; For Chinese enterprises, it is a chain output sample from dredging, docks to EPC turnkey. When Dong Guangli shook hands and took a photo with Alcab, the conversation between Chen Zhong and the president of Alcab Petroleum in the background had already turned the berth line on the blueprint into a new horizon for industrial cooperation between the two countries.keywords:Engineering infrastructure

When night falls, the lighthouse in Annaba Port rotates as usual. From then on, an additional layer of meaning appeared in the pillar of light - billions of tons of underground phosphate ore were slowly flowing towards the world through the pile drivers and piers of China Harbor.Editor/Yang Meiling