The Autonomous Port of Douala is a company that owns Cameroon’s first active port, the Port of Douala. This company belongs to the Cameroonian State. It is located in the Wouri estuary on the littoral coast and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.
It provides 95% of Cameroon’s national port traffic and is the first port of CEMAC. It also makes it possible to serve the landlocked states of Chad and the Central African Republic, thanks to special agreements. As such, exports and imports from or to these countries benefit from preferential tariffs. In 2003, the container activity stood at 1.2 million tonnes, or 137,624 TEUs of 20 feet equivalent, for a containerization rate of 50%. In the first quarter of 2007, the autonomous port exported 520,589 tonnes, broken down as follows3: sawn timber: 30% logs: 26% banana: 12% cocoa: 8% scrap: 6% cotton: 5% aluminum: 3% coffee: 2% rubber: 2% others: 6% In total, Cameroon exported 520,589 tonnes. This represents a growth rate of 3% year-on-year. Very low, because exports represent only 41% of the trade balance. Following a series of privatizations in 2003 and 2004, the container terminal (DIT) is operated by private operators united in a consortium, notably Bolloré and Maersk. The towing and mooring activities as well as the operation of the ice plant have also been privatized.
The first improvements were said to have been undertaken in 1881 by the German firm Woermann-Linie following an agreement with the Douala kings. It should be noted that until then European companies traded from pontoon boats moored in the middle of the river. Initially, the port is in fact a simple median built at the level of the Akwa village. The construction of a real concrete quay will be undertaken at the end of the nineteenth century by the Germans under the authority of Governor Jesko von Puttkamer. The Germans intended to make this port one of the most modern on the west coast of Africa because they considered that the absence of a helm gave it a decisive advantage. It is in the port area that the country’s first industries will be born. When Cameroon gained independence, the port was transferred to the Cameroon National Ports Office (ONPC). The autonomous port of Douala, in its current legal form, was born in 1999, from the law n ° 98/021 of December 24, 1998, which organizes the national port domain. The PAD is the result of the split of the National Ports Office of Cameroon (ONPC) into several entities, the autonomous ports on the one hand, which operate the Cameroonian ports, and the National Port Authority (ANP) on the other hand. , which controls the autonomous ports.