Kribi deepsea port awaits commissioning

A year after the end of construction of the multipurpose terminal and the first phase of the terminal vessel in the first half of 2014, the deepwater port of Kribi, located in southern Cameroon is yet to be commissioned.

At a cost of 240 billion CFA francs ($ 480 million), of which 207.7 billion (415.4 million dollars) is financed by Exim-Bank of China, this project in less than three years by the Chinese company China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has a general port and an iron wharf in Mboro and Lolabe respectively located over 30 km south of the coastal town of Kribi.

Infrastructure which covers a total area of 26,000 hectares has been reserved for industrial, urban and other facilities. In addition to the two terminals, the general port, industrial and commercial, has a 1.2-km seawall, a ship access channel and a 350 meters quay container.

“It is the most important port investment in Central and West Africa designed to accommodate large ships of 40,000 tons less than 16 meters draft for the multipurpose terminal and 50,000 tons less than 16 meters draft also for the container terminal”, stressed Xinhua's Xu Huajiang, CEO of CHEC-Cameroon in a recent interview.

Since the end of construction in April 2014, the inauguration and commissioning of the port have not yet been done due to a protracted process of appointment of a concessionaire to operate the container terminal since 2008.

To date, three applications are under consideration for this activity since October 2014 after a selection has attracted a total of ten deals.
First on the list in order of merit, the consortium of Bolloré Africa Logistics Group, 3rd World owner CMA-CGM and CHEC is distinguished by an attractive offer of over 633 million euros which is more than 411.450 billion francs CFA.

It is an offer reassessed after a first proposal for € 473 million (more than 307.450 billion CFA francs).

In the second place, the group ICTSI (International Container Terminal Services), downgrades to its initial offers from 284 to more than 467 million euros (184.6 to over 303, 750 billion CFA francs) against its competitor, APM Terminals who has an offer of 332.7 reassessed over 403 million euros (216, 255 more than 261.950 billion CFA francs).

This ranking is the result of the work of an ad hoc committee for selection of candidates set up by Prime Minister Philemon Yang after realizing that the consortium's offer Bolloré Africa Logistics, CMA / CGM-CHEC is the betterment bid to the terminal container of the deepwater port of Kribi he described as “growth acceleration in Cameroon".

With the reputation of Bolloré Africa Logistics group present in 45 African countries since 1947 and in Cameroon where it already operates the port of Douala, the economic capital, and the CMA-CGM shipping company it has a fleet of 445 vessels serving 450 of 521 commercial ports in the world. This group has the distinction of counting CHEC Company as manufacturer of the port.

As a technical partner, CHEC also contributed to the organization by financing the Cameroonian government with a sum amounting to $ 750 million (375 billion CFA francs) of Chinese aid for the second phase of the container terminal consisting of building a second quay 700 meters, which extends the implementation disputed concession.

Sources close to the case informed that the selection of a contractor for the operation of this infrastructure now is the decision of President Paul Biya.

This is a highly anticipated moment because, according to the World Bank, with the commissioning of the Cameroon new port, it is offering an important tool for accelerating economic growth which is struggling to achieve the desired levels.

Meanwhile, the Douala port continues to provide about 95% of exports and imports to countries in Central Africa. Now operating well above its 10 million tons of actual capacity, it suffers from an inability to make less the delayed transport of goods.

" The passage of time at the port of Douala is 5 times higher than that of Durban ; 2 times that of the port of Mombasa , 1.5 times more than that of Dar es Salaam , and exceeds 22% of Lomé ", as stated in a study published by the World Bank in February.