46
Why Does Cargo Spend Weeks in Sub-Saharan African Ports?
shipments with a large amount of goods, especially used clothing. This procedure cannot be applied to government cargo. 7. The container terminal in Dar es Salaam was concessioned in 2000. 8. Container traffic represents about 45 percent of the total tonnage that transits through the port of Douala annually. Containers are also the primary mode of transport for Cameroonian exports, representing about 75 percent of total traffic in tons and about 45 percent of Cameroonian imports. 9. Free time at the terminal—the period during which a container can reside in the container yard without being assessed a demurrage fee—has been set at 11 days since the concession contract was signed in 2005; this is a somewhat long free time given the level of congestion in the port. 10. Article 108 of the customs code of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community defines a maximum clearance delay beyond which cargo is confiscated and put under bonded storage. This delay is currently 90 days in Douala, after which the cargo is auctioned.
References Arvis, Jean-François, Gaël Raballand, and Jean-François Marteau. 2010. The Cost of Being Landlocked: Logistic Costs and Supply Chain Reliability. Washington, DC: World Bank. Djeuwo, Marcellin. 2011. “The Cameroonian Experience of Reform and Its Impact on Clearance and Dwell Time.” Presentation at the Tunis stakeholder workshop, December 13. Farrell, Sheila. 2009. “Factors Influencing Port Efficiency: A Case Study of Dar es Salaam.” Paper presented at a conference of the International Association of Maritime Economics, Copenhagen, June 24–26. Refas, Salim, and Thomas Cantens. 2011. “Why Does Cargo Spend Weeks in African Ports? The Case of Douala, Cameroon.” Policy Research Working Paper 5565, World Bank, Washington, DC.