The arrival of western merchants to the coast of Grand-Popo and Ouidah in the 19th century led to the idea of creating a goods handling company in Dahomey.
With the construction of the Cotonou WHARF by foreign shipping agencies at WLACODJI in 1891, on-board handling operations conducted by these agencies (DELMAS-VIELJEUX, SOCOPAO, SOAEM, TRANSCAP ET BETRACO) were already possible in relatively calm waters. In an effort to improve their services shortly after the Cotonou wharf was dissolved, these agencies came together in 1964 to form the Dahomey Shippers Group (Groupement des Entreprises Maritimes de Dahomey - GEMADA).

The following year, i.e. 1965, the intensive handling operations contributed to increased profits for GEMADA, a fact that did not fail to draw the attention of the political authorities to the existing opportunities for getting back into the sector. The nationalisation of GEMADA by Act No. 14/PR/MTPT of 4th March 1968 on the reorganisation and monopoly of the State in clearing and forwarding and handling operations at the Cotonou Port (Port Autonome de Cotonou - PAC) aimed to address this issue. To ensure its effective application, decree No.69 / 80 / PR / MTPT of 27 Mars 1969 on the creation of the Dahomey Port handling Office (Office Dahom�en des Manutentions Portuaires - OBEMAP) with a capital of 500 millions francs CFA first had to be instituted.

With the declaration of the Popular Republic of BENIN (RPB) on 30th November 1975, ODAMAP became OBEMAP (Office B�ninoise des Manutentions Portuaires) and its memorandum and articles of association were defined by decree No. 84-375 of 8th October 1984. It then became a public industrial and commercial company with financial autonomy.

Finally, after the revision of the Bureau's legal framework and the decisions taken at the National Conference of all social groups in February 1990, the decision was taken to privatise OBEMAP. In the end, the blockage of workers was preferred above privatisation and its name therefore became SOBEMAP (Soci�t� B�ninoise des Manutentions Portuaires) although its nature and activities did not change much.

On 28th April 1998, the decision to liberalise the activities of the container-handling sector at the Cotonou port was taken by Decree No. 98-156. It was therefore obliged to conduct container handling operations with two other authorised companies: a handling company  at the container terminal (Soci�t� de Manutention du Terminal � Conteneurs - SMTC), affiliated with the BOLLORE group, and a limited liability goods handling company based in Cotonou (COMAN Sa), and affiliate of MAERSK SEA LAND.

Formerly at 1.764.000.000 FCFA, the capital SOBEMAP is today fixed at 7.600.000.000 FCFA, with headquarters at Cotonou on the marina between the Head office of the Post and Telecommunications company (Office des Postes et T�l�communication - OPT) and the training centre of the West and Central African Ports Management Association (WCAPMA).

However, because of its functions, and in order to ensure its permanent presence on the spot, it has many assets within the port area. 

It must be noted that SOBEMAP still has a monopoly on the conventional traffic.