15 Years After Controversial Imprisonment Of Forjindam: Cameroon Shipyard Continues To Sink Deeper And Deeper

15 Years After Controversial Imprisonment Of Forjindam:

Cameroon Shipyard Continues To Sink Deeper And Deeper

– Last week workers were once more on strike over unpaid salary arrears

– Retired workers on their part were protesting over their unpaid dues

– Company that recorded a turnover of 40 billion FCFA by end of 2007, is today neck deep in debts

– The company that had a workforce of 2,400 at the end of 2007, today counts barely 323 workers

Observers in the nation’s economic capital, Douala, will definitely be unanimous on the view that the once renown State owned company, the Cameroon Shipyard and Industrial Engineering Limited commonly known by the French appellation, Chantier Naval, has since the controversial arrest and imprisonment of pioneer General Manager, Zachaeus Mungwe Forjindam, on May 7, 2008, become a shadow of itself.
Last week workers of Chantier Naval were once more on strike, over the non -payment of their salary for the months of February, March and April 2023. The workers were also demanding the payment of certain dues that have not been paid for a long time. The unpaid dues include risk allowance, house allowance, and so on. In fact the striking workers had a list of 10 grievances.

The strike came after the management of Chantier Naval failed to respect an ultimatum that was jointly issued by three syndicates in the shipyard sector on May 15, 2023, demanding that the management of the company should pay the workers’ salary arrears and other dues within seven days. The three month salary arrears and other dues reportedly gave a total of 1.2 billion FCFA (One billion, two hundred million francs CFA). The amount being demanded by the workers should by now have increased, with the addition of another month (May 2023).

Meanwhile in the nation’s capital, Yaounde, a group of retired workers of Chantier Naval were on their part protesting near the Prime Minister’s Office, over the non- payment of their dues that amount to a total of 800 million francs CFA.
At the headquarters of Chantier Naval in Douala the, company’s management has maintained a sealed lip on the workers’ strike, with a source saying that one cannot get water out of a stone. This was to say that Chantier Naval is broke. The source added that the company is hoping that there will be a State subvention to clear the salary arrears of worker, if not, no way.

Report Of Technical Commission

Meanwhile the once prosperous Chantier Naval is in fact neck deep in problems today. A report that was presented to the Government in 2021 by the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public and Para Public Enterprises, proposed that the Government should restructure Chantier Naval and pumped in new capital if the company is to survive. The report showed by the end of 2020, Chantier Naval was in debt to the tune of 19.27 billion francs CFA.
Another report by the Technical Commission a year later showed that Chantier Naval continued to sink further and further. The Commission’s report for example showed that Chantier Naval ended the year 2021 on a deficit of 23.22 billion francs CFA in turnover and a net deficit of 4.92 billion francs FCFA. Thus the total debt of Chantier Naval today is above 20 billion francs CFA. As by last month for example, the contributions owed the National Social Insurance Fund as well as unpaid taxes owed by the company, stood at 5.17 billion francs CFA.

In the face of the very bad financial situation of Chantier Naval which has also led to the layoff of many workers in the last 15 years, there is really genuine concern about the future of the Limbe Shipyard Project of the company which has seen no significant progress for a longtime.

The Rise Of Chantier Naval

The Cameroon Shipyard and Industrial Engineering Lt, was created on February 5, 1988. The company started with 32 workers. The capital of the company at creation was just barely 800 million francs CFA, and the company’s turnover at the end of the first financial year (1988 and 1989) was 500 million francs CFA. Zachaeus Mungwe Forjindam was appointment the General Manager of the small company which for obvious reasons was then of no interest to mafia groups in the regime.
Meanwhile at the beginning the State of Cameroon was not alone in Chantier Naval. There were foreign partners from Britain and Denmark. BY 1995 the foreign partners withdrew, and Chantier Naval became a 100 % Cameroonian company with the coming in of five State institutions and Para Public Companies. These were the Ministry of Finance, National Hydrocarbon Company, the Port Authority of Douala, National Hydrocarbon Stabilization Fund and the Cameroon shipping Lines.
The turnover of Chantier Naval at the end of the 199/96 Financial Year was 4,888 billion francs CFA (Four billion, eight hundred and eighty eight million francs CFA), while the number of employees was 400. At the end of the 1998/99 financial year the turnover of Chantier Naval under Forjindam had climbed to 13.326 billion francs CFA, with the number of employees having risen to 574. Along the line, Chantier Naval under Forjindam’s management bought the company, UIC, and thus UIC became an affiliate of Chantier Naval under the same General Manager.

At the end of the 2007 Financial Year, Chantier Naval (and UIC) under Forjindam’s management hit a record in turnover which stood at 40 billion FCFA, and with the number of employees having climbed to as many as 2,400. Chantier Naval became the biggest employer in the maritime sector in Cameroon. In that 2007, Chantier Naval repaired a total of 175 ships of different sizes. There was also the rehabilitation and extension of six petroleum platforms. They included Trident XIV, Stenatay, Trident IV, Scarabea and Seadrill.

Also, by that end of 2007 over 50 % of work had also been realized on the ‘Projet de Yard Pétrolier de Limbe’ by Chantier Naval. Furthermore, Chantier Naval in 2007 also created a record with its construction of the first ship, SAIPEM TAD, for an Italian company. Chantier Naval had become a renowned company in the maritime sector in Africa and beyond, and maritime companies were flowing in from Europe with jobs for the African company. More so the company had risen to the level of having the capacity to engage in ship building.

The Fall Of Chantier Naval

But then following the controversial arrest and imprisonment of Zachaues Mongue Forjindam in May 2008 masterminded by a mafia group in the regime that had become so interested in the prosperous company, Chantier Naval began a free fall under the poor management of Antoine Bikoro Alo’o , who hailed from Ayos in the South Region, and who had fought tooth and nail to replace Forjindam as General Manager of the company. In 2012 the Government brought in a South Korean, Seoung Rok Yang, who was living neighbouring Nigeria. He was installed as General Manager of Chantier Naval on October 9, 2012 by the then Minister of Transport, Robert Nkili, with a mission to revive the sinking company. But after a while, the South Korean threw in the towel and left. After the South Koran, a number of persons have ben successively appointed General Manager of Chantier Naval, but the company continues to sink.