Paper short abstract:

How do actors in and around the Port of Lobito appropriate and disrupt overlapping and sedimented ideological formations and regulatory regimes of the maritime economy in a time of 'crisis'?

Paper long abstract:

As (self-defined) nodes of capitalism, ports are 'hyper-regulated' spaces, and their installations materialise multiple, sometimes contradictory regulatory regimes. They render concrete economic and power relations that are normally conceived of as delocalised, supranational, and abstract. The Port of Lobito, on the central coast of Angola, and its connected transport infrastructures, were a centrepiece of the government's oil-fuelled post-war reconstruction drive. Through oil-backed loans and with the help of international experts and construction companies it was modernised and expanded into a state-of-the-art installation, with the government harbouring ambitious plans to revive rail links into DRC and Zambia. Since the drop of crude oil prices in late 2014, however, the volume of goods coming through the port has dropped by 50-60%, with quays laying empty and cranes standing still. As the dream of development through globally connected economic growth is disrupted, this paper traces how actors in and around the Port of Lobito appropriate and disrupt overlapping and sedimented ideological formations and regulatory regimes of the maritime economy.