(Business in Cameroon) - On August 28, 2015, the Cameroonian government finally published the official releases of the Prime Minister, awarding the Kribi deep water port’s container and multipurpose terminal concessions (South region) respectively to Bolloré-CMA CGM-CHEC and Necotrans-KPMO.

Reacting the same day to this announcement revealed in the media since August 26, 2015, Bolloré Africa Logistics, while delighted with landing “Central Africa’s first greenfield port contract,” revealed in an official release that the contract will last twenty years and not ten as previously suggested by some sources at the start of the process.

In addition, the French logistics company notes that the contract it has just been awarded by grouping its bid with CMA CGM and CHEC, includes the construction of a second 700m container terminal which will be “built in a maximum of five years”. Translation: this infrastructure should be fully operational in 2020 at the latest.

An investment totalling 350 billion FCFA by Eximbank of China, the second terminal, combined with the Edea-Kribi road and railway construction projects, as well as the Edea dry port, will make the Kribi deep water port “a transshipment port hub” on the West African coast.

With a draught of 15 metres, the Kribi deep water port has direct access to the sea and will receive large ships able to transport up to 8,000 EVP containers. In the second construction phase of this port infrastructure, a mineral terminal and a hydrocarbon terminal are expected to be put in place.