APN

Board Chair: Mr. GOUNOUKO HAOUNAYE

Director General: Mr. Josué YOUMBA

Deputy Director General:

Brief History

The NPA is a Public administrative and technical institution with legal personality and financial autonomy, the National Port Authority (NPA) was created by Law No. 98/021 of 24 December 1998 and Enforcement Decree on its reorganization No. 2019/172 of 05 April 2019. It is a technical body supervised by the Government for the implementation of Cameroon’s national port policy, a key player in the coordination and monitoring of port activities. APN plays a very important role in the process to build an emergent Cameroon by 2035 through the enhancement and promotion of the Cameroonian port area.

Missions of NPA.

NPA implements the national port policy as defined by the Government. As such, it is responsible for:

  1. In terms of supervision of port activities:
  • National port development planning;
  • Drafting, in consultation with the Autonomous Port Authorities, of the National Port Master Plan which must consider the promotion of competitiveness;
  • Development and monitoring of port security and safety standards in accordance with international and national regulations.
  • In terms of regulation of port activities
  • Ensures compliance with competition rules in carrying out port activities;
  • Approve the prices of port services and ensures their control, in connection with the authorities concerned;
  • Defines the framework of transfer regimes and conditions to carry out port activities;
  • Suggests opinions on port concessions awarded by the Government;
  • Suggests technical opinions on proposals for port reforms;
  • Investigates on disputes referred to it in the port sector.
  • As part of port activities monitoring and evaluation
  • Participates, as necessary, in the negotiations of agreements to be signed by the Government in the port sector;
  • Monitors the implementation of regulations on the protection of the port environment;
  • Monitors the implementation of regulations as well as port performances;
  • Monitors the implementation of the port cost reduction plan;
  • Carries out specific audits in the port sector;

Advices port sector actors.

Achievements

Permanent Actions

  • Approval of port service prices;
  • monitoring the progress made in the project to build the deep-sea ports of Limbe and Kribi;
  • monitoring the implementation of port police security / safety standards;
  • publication of the annual report on the state of the national port sector;
  • follow-up of the measures taken for the protection of the port environment at the port of Douala;
  • publication of an annual statistics booklet on the port sector

Achievements

  • Study on the port autonomy issue in Cameroon;
  • Study to evaluate the operational capacities of the ports of Garoua and Kribi in relation to the issue of their autonomy;
  • Comparative study of the texts governing the five (5) regulatory bodies in Cameroon;
  • Study on the definition of a framework for a transfer regime of industrial and commercial activities to the private sector;
  • Study on the development of port security and police standards and proposals for mechanisms to monitor their implementation;
  • Study of the issue of competitiveness in the exercise of port activities;
  • Study on the establishment of measures to protect the port environment at the port of Douala;
  • Evaluation study of the port link in the organization of the national goods transport chain;
  • Study of containerised traffic and its impact in Cameroonian ports
  • Study on the analysis of the tariffs of port professions;
  • Study on the assessment of actions to reduce port costs;
  • Establishment of a framework for collaboration and data exchange between APN and port operators;
  • Study of the competitiveness of Cameroonian ports compared to competing ports on the West African coast;
  • Study for the preliminary drafting of a plan to reduce port costs;
  • Study for the drafting of the national port master plan;
  • Study to develop a technical database for the port sites of Kribi, Limbe and Douala.

Ongoing actions

  • Monitoring the implementation of port concessions;
  • Upgrading Cameroon’s facilities with ISPS code standards;
  • Establishing a platform for cooperation with the National Competition Commission;
  • Study for the drafting of the master plan for the development and operation of inland waterways;
  • Study for the drafting of the master plan for the development and protection of the Littoral;
  • Implementation of a monitoring framework for actions contributing to the protection of the port environment.