Container Port Ranking: When Administrative Delays Hamper PAD and PAK Performance

Despite respective gains of 11 and 2 places in one year, the two Cameroonian platforms lag significantly behind continental benchmarks. Bureaucratic red tape and documentary formalities are the main factors hindering progress. Commercial vessels spend only 43% of their total docking time at Douala, and a mere 47% at Kribi, with the remainder of their maritime stay absorbed by waiting at anchor and coordinating administrative circuits.

The contrast is striking between the congestion of documentary circuits and the commercial vitality of the terminals. One year after the expansion of handling infrastructure, the port of Kribi handled 750,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during the 2025 fiscal year, representing an 82% increase. Transshipment activity to regional markets such as Nigeria, Angola, and the continental hinterland now accounts for 70% of the southern platform's cargo. However, the bureaucratic inefficiency index undermines the site's competitiveness with a negative score of -297.8 points for Kribi, compared to -101.6 points for the Wouri estuary. National port structures thus face immediate competition from Malabo and Bata, ranked 10th and 22nd in Africa, as well as Owendo in Gabon, positioned 24th.

Terminal managers and the Autonomous Port of Douala authorities have reservations about the evaluation criteria used by international financial institutions. Criticisms focus on the lack of weighting related to the specificities of estuary ports, subject to tidal cycles, and the indiscriminate integration of petroleum or conventional traffic. Operators believe that the index omits determining variables such as net volume handled, ship size, or the density of internal road connections. The establishment of traffic facilitation committees and the complete digitization of customs procedures are now essential levers to reduce cargo immobilization delays and lower import costs for the national economy.

Nlend Flore