French-Chinese consortium wins 25-year Kribi terminal concession in Cameroon

Written by Abdelmonem Achour on September 1, 2015. Posted in Shipping news

A consortium of two French companies, CMA CGM and Bolloré Africa Logistics, and China’s China Harbour Engineering Co, have won the concession to operate the 1.4m teu Kribi container terminal in Cameroon.

The concession for the Kribi Container Terminal is 25 years and CMA CGM said vessels up to 8,000 teu capacity would be able to call the 1.4m teu capacity container terminal. “When finished, it will be composed of a 700 metre length wharf and a 32 hectare platform made for 16 metre draught. A first 350 meter length wharf will be operational within a few months,” it said.

With Cameroon a growing market, Kribi is expected to become a regional hub for the African Atlantic coast, from Senegal to Gabon.

“We would like to thank the Government of Cameroon for the transparent selection of our offer, which provided the best financial and technical guarantees,” said Farid T. Salem, CMA CGM group executive officer.

“CMA CGM and its partners will make Kribi container terminal an international terminal which will bring dynamism to the Cameroonian economy. With this new terminal, Cameroon will be at the heart of international trade.”

Kribi is located around 75 miles south of Cameroon’s main existing port, Douala, known as the Douala International Terminal, which is run jointly by Bolloré Africa Logistics and APM Terminals. Draught there is said to be limited to seven metres, a main reason for the development of the new port.

A CMA CGM newsletter said that in FY2014, 23 vessels got stuck in the “sediment ridden” channel approaching Douala port, and had to divert cargoes to Pointe Noire, Congo and Cotonou, Benin.

Source: seatrade-maritime

Tags: Containers, Middle East & Africa, Port & Logistics

Trackback from your site.

Abdelmonem Achour

Abdelmonem Achour is a Tunisian maritime lawyer. He specialises in both commercial and the litigation aspects of shipping, admiralty, marine insurance, transport, logistics, international trade and marine environmental law, as well as maritime casualty response and subrogated recoveries. He heads up the practice’s Admiralty and Shipping department and is the Transport Headlight leader. He has advised a number of commodity traders and their insurers, underwriters and brokers in international trade and recovery matters. Having obtained his BA LLB at the University of Tunis, he was admitted as an Attorney around ten years ago, is the senior partner of the firm and heads up the practice’s Admiralty and Shipping department. He also obtained a post-graduate diploma in Corporate Law.