The government of Cameroon has awarded a consortium led by French logistics group Necotrans with a contract for operation and maintenance of the multipurpose terminal at Kribi port, 150 km south of Douala.
The contract comprises a 20-year concession in return for a €26.2m ($29.6m) investment from the Necotrans Kribi Multi Port Operators (KPMO) consortium, which consists of Necotrans plus nine Cameroonian forwarding agents, stevedores and shipping agents. ICTSI and APM Terminals were among those bidding for the concession.
The multipurpose terminal has a 265-metre-long quay with two berths, dredged to a depth of 17 metres, and is equipped with two rail-mounted gantry cranes on rails and six rubber-tyred cranes. The terminal is expected to handle around 1.4m tonnes of cargo per annum two years after its completion.
The new Kribi terminal will employ over 250 people and will handle wood, cotton, minerals and equipment for Cameroon’s oil and gas industry. An industrial zone and power plant are planned for construction next to Kribi port.
Phase two of the terminal’s construction will add a further 350-metre-long quay and additional equipment that will eventually enable the terminal to handle over 3m tpa of cargo.
“We are particularly proud of our Cameroonian colleagues federated around a win-win partnership and gained the trust of the Cameroonian authorities. Kribi is the only deepwater port in Central Africa; it is called to be the economic engine of Cameroon and the sub-region, including Chad and the Central African Republic,” said Gregory Quérel, president of Necotrans, in a statement.
A contract for the Kribi container port was awarded last week to a consortium led by Bollore.
