Seven months after signing a 12-year public-private partnership (PPP) with the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD), the French company Negri launched construction of Quay 17 on July 11, 2025. Transport Minister Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe laid the first stone, marking the start of the project.
Negri plans to build 250 meters of new quay, develop 7.9 hectares of backfill area, and create 1,200 meters of rubber-tyred gantry crane (RTG) lanes. The project’s estimated cost stands at CFA47.2 billion before tax, or 55 billion including tax.
The work will receive up to CFA70 billion in bank loans. The Société d'exploitation et de construction du Port de Douala-Bonabéri (Scepdb) and P17, Negri subsidiaries, will manage the project. Construction will unfold in three phases over 27 months.
The first phase lasts 27 weeks. It involves removing and relocating three floating docks weighing 10,000, 3,500, and 500 tons. Negri will also build a 54-meter jetty with an 8-meter-wide floating platform.
The second phase will take 35 weeks. It includes building a 150-meter quay with a return section, dredging sediments, and backfilling 180,000 cubic meters of sand.
The final phase spans 52 weeks. It focuses on installing gantry crane lanes, laying 400 meters of rail, constructing port roadways and platforms, and installing lighting and fire-fighting equipment.
Stéphane Delaplace, Negri’s CEO, said, “This project lays the foundation for a modern tool serving Cameroon’s economic and logistical development.” He added the project addresses a critical need to upgrade port infrastructure.
Cyrus Ngo’o, PAD’s Director General, explained, “The construction of an additional quay and new storage areas responds to growing container traffic and terminal saturation.”
Quay 17’s construction forms part of the Douala container terminal expansion. It marks the first phase of the port’s 2020-2050 master plan.
The expansion will increase the terminal’s total length to at least 1,000 meters. It will enable the PAD’s Container Terminal Authority (RTC) to boost capacity from 380,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2024 to one million containers by 2030.
Frédéric Nonos