Since last 8 June, the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK) and AVIMA IRON ORE, a mining company having a contract for extracting and exploiting a large iron deposit with the government of Congo, a neighbour of Cameroon. The deposit hovering around 700 million tons of iron ore requires a logistic solution for exports activities. Hence AVIMA’s interest in the Port of Kribi, located closed to Congo. For the local port authority, the passage of iron ore will undeniably contribute to developing significant traffic to the Port of Kribi. The collaboration between PAK and AVIMA is therefore a win-win partnership.

The PAK/AVIMA MOU signed by Patrice MELOM, PAK General Manager and Socrates VASILIADES, CEO of AVIMA IRON ORE commits parties to an economic, commercial, technical, financial and legal joint study so as to master the operations and hurdles pertaining to exporting the iron ore from AVIMA mining site through the Port of Kribi. It is worth mentioning that at the technical and commercial level, the study mentioned above will highlight investments required to acquire handling equipment suitable for AVIMA’s operations. In a nutshell, parties will take two years, renewable if necessary, to provide the guarantees necessary to sign a sustainable partnership contract. PAK should equip the multipurpose terminal with special equipment valued at 1 billion CFAF. AVIMA, on its part, has to obtain all required derogations: transit authorisation, use of lorries with an 85 T axle load, etc.

In the long term, PAK aims to develop a mineral terminal. In this vein, a contract was signed between the Government of Cameroon and the firm Cam Iron to mine iron ore in Mballam. As the economic conditions pertaining to the mine failed to be conducive, the project has been put to the back burner. With the prospects brought in by AVIMA, the Port of Kribi could have a fresh impetus and give a strong sign to potential similar projects in the subregion.