(Business in Cameroon) – On June 11, 2025, Pierre Kashadile Bukasa Muteba, Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Cameroon, met with Auguste Mbappe Penda, Director General of the National Shippers’ Council of Cameroon (CNCC). The meeting sought institutional support from the CNCC and its Congolese counterpart, the Office for the Management of Multimodal Freight (OGEFREM), for a strategic project.
Since May 12, 2025, the two Shippers’ Councils have been examining the operationalization of the Kribi-Zongo corridor (North DRC) via the Central African Republic (CAR). This initiative aims to alleviate difficulties in transporting freight to and from the Grand North of the DRC.
The objective is to enable the transit of goods—such as timber, manganese, gold, or cobalt—from the DRC via the CAR for export through the Port of Kribi, located in southern Cameroon. The DRC, a vast country spanning 2.3 million square kilometers, suffers from an underdeveloped road network, which limits the transport of products to its main ports, notably Kinshasa, located on the south bank of the Congo River, or Matadi in the southwest of the country.
The commissioning of this corridor would result in a substantial reduction in freight costs for goods moving to or from the North of the DRC. Furthermore, Cameroon would benefit from additional revenue through transit fees paid on Congolese goods.
Sources close to the matter indicate that the Congolese diplomat welcomed this collaboration between the CNCC and OGEFREM, both responsible for promoting foreign trade in their respective countries. “We are committed to mobilizing all relevant bodies in both countries to ensure the success of this major project,” he said.
In response, Auguste Mbappe Penda proposed an upcoming visit to Kribi for the Congolese delegation. This visit would include meetings with the heads of administrations involved in Cameroonian foreign trade and tours of port infrastructure and trade facilitation systems.
This dynamic comes as the Port of Kribi recently welcomed the world’s largest container ship, the MSC Turkiye, on May 8, 2025. This event confirmed the port’s rise as a regional logistics hub capable of accommodating ultra-large vessels and offering competitive transit times to Asia and Europe. The integration of the Kribi-Zongo corridor is thus part of a regional vision for logistics modernization, trade facilitation, and economic integration in Central Africa.
Frédéric Nonos
