The COMILOG Cableway was one of the longest cableways in the world, until its closure in 1986. The ropeway conveyor ran for 76 km from

Moanda Moanda is one of the largest towns in Gabon, lying on the N3 road in Haut Ogooué. It is also one of the most important manganese mining towns in the world, under the auspices of the ''Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué'' (COMILOG), which began ...

in the Haut-Ogooué Province of south eastern Gabon to

Mbinda Mbinda is a town in the Republic of Congo, lying on the border with Gabon. It is a transport hub and lies at the end of a railway line to Brazzaville. Overview The town prospered as the southern end of the 75 km COMILOG Cableway from Moanda ...

in the

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

. In 1954, the Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué (COMILOG), a French-American company formed the previous year, decided to begin mining manganese in the Gabonese town of Moanda. The town lay deep in the

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

, and export of the metal was a problem. The nearest reliable transport route was the Congo-Ocean Railway, but this lay more than 250km away, across difficult terrain.

George Perrineau George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

was charged with constructing a transport link between the two. It was decided to construct a cableway from Moanda to Mbinda, and then branch of the Congo-Ocean Railway to

Mont Bello Monto Bello is a small town in the south of the Republic of Congo. Railways Mont Belo is also the railway junction for the branchline to Mbinda. See also * Railway stations in Congo Railway stations in the Republic of the Congo (Congo) ...

, from which the existing railway would link to the port of

Pointe-Noire Pointe-Noire (; kg, Njinji, french: Ndjindji with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before t ...

.Ya Sanza
Dossiers spéciaux: COMILOG
pecial Dossier: COMILOG/ref> The conveyor was routed via the small town of

Bakoumba Bakoumba is a town in south eastern Gabon with a population of around 2,500 - 3000 people. It lies south west of Moanda and was the headquarters for the COMILOG Cableway, carrying manganese from Moanda to Mbinda in Republic of Congo. The cable ...

, which became the centre for the maintenance of the structure. The mine opened in 1957, and the Cableway was opened in 1959, the link finally being completed when the Congo-Ocean Railway branch opened in 1962. The Cableway consisted of ten sections, and had 858 supports of between 5 and 74m in height.Seilbahnen
able cars/ref> One tonne cars carried the manganese twenty-four hours a day.Bakoumba et la SODEPAL
akoumba and SODEPAL/ref> The government of Gabon was keen to ship the valuable manganese ore through its own ports, and routed a new railway, the

Transgabonais The Trans-Gabon Railway (french: Transgabonais) is the only railway in Gabon. It runs east from Owendo port station in Libreville to Franceville via numerous stations, the main ones being Ndjolé, Lopé, Booué, Lastoursville and Moanda. ...

, from the national capital

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been inh ...

to Moanda, and on to Franceville. When this opened, in 1986, the cableway was closed. While Moanda continued to prosper, Bakoumba and Mbinda suffered from the withdrawal of their main industry. COMILOG funded the creation of the Lékédi Park at Bakoumba to encourage the development of a tourist industry, but some groups in Congo felt that unemployment there was not addressed.

References

External links

Map of Gabon showing the route of the COMILOG Cableway
{{coord missing, Republic of the Congo Transport in Gabon Transport buildings and structures in the Republic of the Congo Transport buildings and structures in Gabon Buildings and structures completed in 1959 1986 disestablishments in Gabon Aerial tramways in the Republic of the Congo Aerial tramways 1986 disestablishments in the Republic of the Congo 1959 establishments in French Equatorial Africa