Artist's impression: a cargo vessel leaves a lock on the Ankobra, below a road bridge and a weir.

Large economies have historically developed around their river basins. It’s now Africa’s turn to grow.

African River Corridors is a specialist project developer, preparing transport, water supply, energy and land development around river corridors in Africa.

Barge traffic on the Yangtze River

How rivers build nations

Over history, nations have developed and grown on their major river basins. They still do.

  • Tonnage. Ports on China’s Yangtze were expected to handle more than 4 billion tonnes of cargo in 2024 — the busiest inland waterway in the world. The Rhine carried 281.9 million tonnes in 2025.
  • Trucks off the road. In the United States, one 15-barge tow carries as much as 1,050 trucks.
  • Savings. On a gallon of fuel, a barge moves a tonne of cargo about four and a half times as far as a truck. For the same cargo, trucks give off about nine times the greenhouse gas.
  • Lives saved. For every death in a barge accident, trucks moving the same freight cause 121. More than 2,400 people died on Ghana’s roads in 2024.

Africa’s major rivers are among the least used in the world. That is the opportunity.

Sources: China Ministry of Transport, via Hellenic Shipping News; Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine; Texas A&M Transportation Institute for the National Waterways Foundation (2022); Ghana National Road Safety Authority, via GNA.

What we do

We develop, finance, build and operate infrastructure on Africa’s river corridors.

Transport and logistics

Inland waterway navigation for cargo: channels, locks and weirs, vessels and quays.

Water treatment and supply

Clean river water for mining and industrial use.

Energy

Power for river infrastructure and for the industry that grows along it.

Land development

Industry, logistics and agriculture along the corridors.

Construction and asset management

We build in-house and manage our own equipment.

How we develop projects

In-house engineering and construction management

We build our own expertise by designing and executing our own projects in Ghana. That removes contractor inefficiencies and margins.

Build, refinance, recycle

We build with equity, refinance with debt once an asset is commissioned and performing, and recycle the equity into the next project.

Small, AI-enabled teams

Top-tier people with high autonomy. Generalists drive the work with heavy AI assistance and our own tools; specialists are consulted where it matters.

Deep partnerships

Real value and close integration for our offtakers, and strong relationships with suppliers for reliable, quality infrastructure.

Quality of revenues

We focus on mining, energy, food and transport, and on clients with strong balance sheets — sectors that last for decades.

A scalable model

Modular solutions that can be deployed and improved again and again across river corridors.

Satellite map of the Ankobra River from the sea at Axim to Awaso, with a dashed potential connection to the Offin River toward Nyinahin and Kumasi.

Our first corridor: the Ankobra

African River Corridors is partnering with Genser Energy to develop Ghana’s Ankobra River into a modern transport corridor, from the Atlantic to Awaso.

  • About 245 km of navigable river, open all year.
  • Eighteen locks and weirs that lift vessels 113 m, from sea level to Awaso.
  • Electric motor vessels, each carrying about 3,500 tonnes.
  • A possible canal to the Offin River, to reach Nyinahin and Kumasi.

The river is surveyed and modelled, the locks, weirs and vessels are designed, and the permits are in place.

Visit ankobrariver.com

The team

Photo of Niall Ó Tuathail

Niall Ó Tuathail

Managing Director

Leads African River Corridors and has carried the Ankobra project from concept in 2024. Joins from McKinsey & Company and the energy and logistics sector, including two years living in Ghana. Studied optimisation mathematics and statistics at Trinity College Dublin.

Photo of Raphael Atimbire

Raphael Atimbire

Survey

Leads the survey work: the bathymetry, topography and ground control behind our terrain models. Has run several surveys of the Ankobra. A geospatial specialist and drone pilot, and a graduate of KNUST.

Photo of Ali Adamu

Ali Adamu

Community, regulatory and environmental

Leads community and regulatory engagement and environmental and social management. Through his firm, Kagyire Consult, he led the Ankobra ESIA, the work with the river communities, and the permits. Formerly at SMEC and Genser Energy.

Photo of Francisco Moyano

Francisco Moyano

Engineering and hydrology

Leads hydraulic modelling, flood standards, and lock and weir engineering. A Senior Civil Engineer with SRK Consulting, specialising in surface hydrology and dam-break analysis.

Contact

For partnership, investment, government, community or media enquiries, email niall.o.tuathail@ankobrariver.com.

53 Sanderling Street, Takoradi, Ghana.