Douala port under lots of pressure - Ports Authority

According to a report released July 7 by the National Port Authority (APN), traffic at the Douala port in 2013 has increased by 9.8%, For the first time in history; 10 million tones of goods handled,has risen to 10,592,021 tons, against 9,642,086 tons in 2012.

"The Douala Port was designed to accommodate traffic of 10,000,000 tons but current traffic is over the volume (in excess of about 600 000 tones), the port is therefore mechanically under capacity, "says the APN saying that the traffic on that port represents, alone, 99.7% of all maritime traffic in the country.

This extreme patronage of the Douala port comes at a time which Cameroon govt is preparing to commission the new deepwater port of Kribi, whose first phase work (the construction of a seawall, an access channel ships, ferry piers, two versatile and container terminals) are almost ready. It is 9 noted to be 97% complete, according to Patrice Melom, the head of the unit coordinating the project.