Congestion in Douala port heightens

According to PANA, 12 container ships are been waited at the buoy in the port of Douala, Cameroon's economic metropolis database, for almost 40 days. "This situation, explained a customs officer at the port of Douala, Serge Olivier Nandjui, is due to the inability of the operator of the Terminal container from Douala to fulfil its specifications.

He argued that "the Douala International terminal currently can only work with one vessel at a time because there are only 2 Wharf porticos available which regularly break down.

Serge Olivier Nandjui, customs registrants and freight forwarder operating in the port of Douala recognize that this "port is permanently congested" with "enormous and highly damaging consequences.

Players operating at the port of Douala note that, among other consequences, "the number of ships carrying expected goods in Cameroon is decreased sharply" while noting that 'owners no longer want to position their boats in Douala until the situation improves'.

"Beyond these visible consequences, ship owners limit, since the beginning of the week, in addition to imposing overloads on congestion of at least 300 dollars per TEU or 5 dollars per tonne, the quantities of cargo that they send to Cameroon “ he indicated.

While awaiting the official opening of the Kribi deep sea port in the South of Cameroon, congestion in the port of Douala poses serious problems for maritime transport in Cameroon and paralyzed commercial and economic activities of countries such as Chad and the Central African Republic who do not have access to the sea and whose goods transit in majority by the port of Douala.