Kribi criteria fulfilled
Ongoing throughput growth in many ports in Sub-Saharan Africa has whetted the appetite of several international port and terminal operators. ICTSI advanced recently when it signed a 25-year contract in Kribi.
Choosing a partner is one of the big challenges, both in life as well as in the logistics business. Africa is no exception in this regard. Awarding a concession to operate a terminal in a Cameroonian port thus occasionally also leads to a rather lively song and dance.
Since the beginning of 2019, for example, the regional frontrunner amongst West Africa’s hub operators, Bolloré Ports (and its co-concessionaire APM Terminals) has not given up hope of winning a conflict to continue its concession to operate the port of Douala, which Bolloré managed for no less than 15 years. It was set to be definitely revoked at the beginning of 2020. Bolloré feels that it was discriminated against in the new invitation to tender, which in the end was won by the entity TIL, MSC’s subsidiary for terminal operations.
The usurped operator Douala International Terminal (DIT), a consortium made up of Bolloré Ports and APM Terminals, then proceeded to block the facility’s operating system. Several court and administrative decisions to resolve the conflict are still pending (see also page 13 of ITJ 5-6 / 2020).
Satisfied concessionaires
Business wasn’t as rough as that recently in Kribi (Cameroon), 150 km south of Douala on the country’s coast, where the ingredients for a cliffhanger were all also in the equation, however. The Port Autonome de Kribi (PAK), a hub that is one of Cameroon’s lifelines with its extensive hinterland, was completed in 2015. Negotiations over who would operate the terminal in the most important Central African maritime port (17 m deep waters) dragged on to July 2017. Only then did the Cameroonian government finally award a 25-year concession to manage the Kribi container terminal to a Franco-Chinese consortium (CMA CGM, Bolloré, China Harbour Engineering Company; see also ITJ Daily of 22 January 2018).
Now the Filipino terminal / port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc has also arrived in Kribi. ICTSI has signed a 25-year contract with PAK to develop, operate and maintain the Kribi Multipurpose Terminal (KMT), in the proximity of the container terminal.
Investing in the future
Developing this port is one of the top priorities for the Cameroonian government. XAF 400 billion (approximately USD 794 million) has been earmarked for expansion phase II, which will see the quays extended to 715 m and a 19 ha container storage area set up. Capacities are expected to double by 2024. The new concessionaire will also contribute financially.
Hans-Ole Madsen, senior vice-president and regional head for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, underlined ICTSI’s ambitions at the (partially) virtual signing ceremony. “We’ll actively promote the Kribi logistics corridor, which covers Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, and is home to more than 50 million people.”
The KMT was purpose-built to handle ro-ro services, project / heavylift shipments, forestry products and dry bulk, and to support services to the oil and gas industry. Its two mobile cranes can handle approximately 1.5 million t of goods annually. Kathy Magne will manage the KMT for ICTSI.
