The United Arab Emirates-based DP World has been declared the winner of an international tender to manage the container terminal at the port of Dakar in Senegal for a 25-year period.

The move is a serious setback for the French Bollore group, which has been in charge of management at the terminal since its inception 20 years ago.

DP World has promised to invest about US$703 million to modernise and improve operations at the terminal.

In June, the UAE company announced that it had won an international tender to manage the Port of Dakar but the Bollore group denounced the win as "lacking in transparency," saying that it had been disqualified although it had submitted the highest financial bid.

Shortly afterwards, the Bollore group moved to lodge two appeals with the Senegalese economy ministry but without much success.

The current port management has been issued with a three-month quit-notice, which expires on December 18, to remove their equipment from the port, as the new management team is scheduled to take over on January 1, 2008.

According to the agreement, DP World will be required to implement the takeover without causing any lay-offs particularly with regard to 1,700 dock workers.