MSC has added the deep-water Port of Kribi in Cameroon to its intermodal network, giving shippers moving cargo into Cameroon, Chad and the Central African Republic an alternative gateway to the Port of Douala.
The expanded service links vessel calls at Kribi with inland road transport to destinations including Yaoundé, N’Djamena and Bangui.
From Kribi, cargo is moved inland through MSC’s road transport network. The company said local teams coordinated documentation, customs clearance and shipment updates, enabling “a fully connected door-to-door logistics chain” from vessel discharge to final delivery.
“As trade volumes continue to grow, MSC has added Kribi to its network, offering customers a complementary alternative to the Port of Douala and improving the speed and reliability of cargo flows across the region,” MSC said.
“Cameroon plays a critical role as a regional trade hub, supporting the movement of goods into landlocked markets such as Chad and the Central African Republic. The World Bank estimates that approximately 79% of Chad’s imports transit through the Port of Douala,” MSC said.
Kribi is Cameroon’s only deep-water port and has annual handling capacity of more than one million TEUs. The port recorded close to 470 ship calls in 2023 and has been expanded to support larger vessel calls and higher cargo volumes.
The port is one of the few in Africa capable of accommodating the world’s largest container vessels, including the MSC Türkiye, which has capacity of more than 24 000 TEUs. MSC said the vessel’s deployment to Kribi was the first call of its kind at a Central African port.
The shipping line now operates four dedicated services calling at Kribi. These include two mainline services – Africa Express and the India Africa Service – linking Cameroon directly with Asia, India and other global markets. The Douala Express Feeder and Gulf of Guinea Feeder Service provide regional feeder links.
The Kribi corridor forms the second phase of MSC’s African intermodal campaign, following the Côte d’Ivoire-Burkina Faso rail corridor earlier this year.
Further corridors are planned in South Africa and Kenya later in 2026.
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