(Business in Cameroon) - Today, July 9, 2018, Kribi Polyvalent Multiple Operators (KPMO), a consortium of Cameroonian companies, signs a subcontracting agreement for the management of the multipurpose terminal at Kribi port for Two years.

In that regard, Patrice Melom (photo), the port’s managing director explains that during that transitory period, the port will manage the terminal itself but can subcontract another company for that purpose.

“We are with KPMO in the framework of an indirect management”, the director said.

He adds that this contract is in line with the president’s prescription which states that in case of a failure of an operator who holds the concession on a terminal, the port authority should take care of the exploitation for a transitory period. And, this is exactly the scenario here.

Kribi port authorities estimate that for one or two monthly stops, it will handle between 400,000 and 500,000 tons of goods on average during the two transitory years.

Let’s note that KPMO was part of the consortium led by the French Necotrans in 2014. On 26 August 2015, this consortium was chosen by Cameroon for a partnership agreement in the framework of the maintenance and management of Kribi port’s multipurpose terminal. This agreement was supposed to last 20 years for €26.2 million investments and fees to be paid to Cameroon.

In January 2018, however, the country declared the failure of Necotrans. Les Echos then revealed that in front of Paris trade court, the buyback offer (about €17.2 million or CFA11 billion) from the consortium Bolloré - APCH - Premium - Privinvest helped Necotrans keep 86 out of 119 direct jobs in France and 1,100 in its subsidiaries in Africa.

S.A