BY NDUMBE BELL JOSEPH GASTON IN DOUALA
The Port of Kribi (PAK) and the Douala Ports Authority (PAD) have been in touch before and after January 31, 2022 to renew their partnership agreement that is reported to have expired, and to include within this renewable agreement a project to create what they call, a cablage and feedering line meant to assist mostly PAD when very heavy sea vessels will not be able to dock a PAD’s jurisdictions.
Consultations are reported to be on going to compliment each other’s efforts and other initiatives that will leapfrog matters of common interest. In the days or weeks ahead, the two managements are expected to have agreed on very precise aspect to advance the course of their activities and cooperation more than the previous one.
The Kribi Ports Authority (PAK in French) led by the General Manager, Patrice Melon explained in further detail that goods coming from no specific country (for example) which cannot dock in Douala because of what they call, hydrological conditions, will be unloaded in Kribi after which smaller vessels commonly called feeders will cargo them and deposit at Douala for unloading and other processes, hence the term feedering.
Since this B2B is for a win-win objective, reports say the two ports are in a hurry to sign the new framework by February 2022. Through a retro-planning strategy, both persons are at work developing all the internal structures concerned. All other documents and ideas will be shared by both sides and workshops are underway to understudy the creation of this maritime feedering system, when both sides become satisfied and converge.
It is stated that the establishment of the feedering system between the two ports is in realisation of the program of complementation which, they say, was initiated jointly by the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o and his counterpart General Manager of PAK, Patrice Melon, in a joint decision last August 24, 2020, reorganising their crack teams. This complementation will soon include the Port of Limbe in the South-West and give birth to a new flexible and profitable system of sea transformation in Cameroon.