Congestion at Douala port decreases considerably

Cameroon customs organizes sales by public auction from August 27 to December 20, 2014. Two related notices accompanied by the list of the goods concerned had been published since June on company's website.

Speaking a few days ago on the solutions to decongest the port of Douala, Urbain Noël Ebang Mve, president of the Assembly of the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD), announced the auction as one of the measures taken to rid the port of goods that clutter the space, contributing to congestion.

Recently, the Director General of customs, Minette Libom Li Likeng, announced the creation and commissioning of a clearance pilot-site at Belabo for certain goods in transit to the Central African Republic, as a solution to decongest the port platform.

Congestion at the port of Douala has already lasted for many months. According to the report of the national port authority (APN) on the State of the maritime sector in 2013, the port of Douala assured 99.7% of maritime traffic, with either 10 564 280 tons of processed goods on this site against 9 617 996 tonnes in 2012.

As a result, many ships are still waiting to berth at the buoy base, another situation at the origin of this congestion, the renewal of equipment, including handling instrument that are portals. Lack of storage areas, insufficient production tool, and low level of investment, all constitute problems at the port! "The port is not a store." "The extreme gravity of the situation control behaviors of emergency breaking with habits." There is a problem of governance at the port.

In the ginning of the difficulties faced by the port of Douala currently, everything has been said. And the solutions are all as numerous as the problems raised, sometimes coming from experts, sometimes even actors operating on this platform.