The first US shipment of copper from mines in the Democratic Republic in Congo to be transported by the Lobito Atlantic Railway has loaded.

A cargo of copper cathodes is headed to Baltimore after arriving by train at the port of Lobito in Angola on Aug. 19, Trafigura Group, which is part of a consortium with a concession for the line, said in a statement. The six-day rail journey demonstrated “the time efficient western route to market that is now available for minerals and metals produced in the Congolese Copperbelt,” the trader said.

The Lobito corridor is seen as a key export route from mines in Congo and Zambia for minerals critical to the energy transition, including copper and cobalt. 

The US-bound cargo was loaded onto the MSC SAMU container vessel, following a number of shipments of copper to ports in Europe and the Far East since the Lobito Atlantic Railway took over the concession in January.