Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
On Monday, February 16, 2026 The General Manager of PAD Told Transatlantic D To Quit The Scanning Section Reserved For SGS At The Port. On Tuesday, February 17, SGS Scanning Cameroun Effectively Resumed Its Activities At Douala Port. At The End Of An Evaluation Meeting On Wednesday, February 18, GECAM Saluted The Return Of Normalcy To The Douala Port.
It would be recalled that the Prime Minister and Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph DION NGUTE , on January 29, 2026, chaired at inter – ministerial meeting on the crisis at the Douala Port. The meeting was also attended by delegations from the two companies at the center of the crisis; the State owned Douala Port Authority which is charged with managing the Douala Port, and the multinational company, ‘Societe Generale de Surveillanc’, SGS, with which the Cameroon Government signed a contract in 2015, to accompany the Cameron Customs in the fight to secure custom revenue, by installing container scanners and operating merchandises inspection (scanning) at the Douala Port.
At that January 29 meeting, the General Manager of the Douala Port Authority commonly known by the French acronym, PAD, Cyrus NGO’O, was given firm directives by the Prime Minister, to rapidly take necessary dispositions, to ensure that SGS resumed its activities at the Douala Port, in line with the contract the company signed with the Government, on January 30, 2026, which was the next day. The Secretary General at the Prime Minister’s Office, FOUDA Seraphin Magloire, addressed a correspondence on that January 30 to the General Manager of PAD, to lay emphasis on the directives of the Prime Minister.
But the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, for over a week did not implement the directives of the Prime Minister, as he stubbornly maintained in function Transatlantic D, which he illegally brought to replace SGS Scanning Cameroon SA, at the Douala Port. However last week, the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul MOTAZE, in a bid to reinforce the Prime Minister’s directives, put a stop to the continuous operation of Transatlantic D, in the place of SGS, at the section at the port that handles the inspection by scanning, of containers of merchandises. The minister did this by ordering that the Customs Service at the Douala Port stop all collaboration with Transatlantic D. The Customs immediately did that, and that action put Transatlantic D out of action at the Douala Port. For one thing, Transatlantic D could not continue with the scanning of merchandises without the collaboration of the Customs Service, for which the information is meant.
GM Of PAD Is Finally Forced To Respect PM’s Directives
With Transatlantic D put out of action at the Douala Port, the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, had no choice than to finally respect the directives of the Prime Minister, that SGS Scanning Cameroun should resume its activities at the Douala Port. This was the subject of a correspondence (No. 000128 – 23/ DG/ PAD), that the General Manager of PAD addressed to the General Manager of Transatlantic D on Monday, February 16, 2026.
The reference was the correspondence (L No. 370 / d- 27 / SG / PM) which the Secretary General at the Prime Minister‘s Office addressed to the General Manager of PAD on January 29, 2026, as well as the Correspondence (L No. 00130 / MINFI / CAB) of 13, February 2026, that the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, addressed to the General Manager of PAD, demanding for immediate implementation of the directives of the Prime Minister that was made since January 29.
It should be noted as well that the correspondence of the General Manager of PAD to the General Manager of Transatlantic D, came within the backdrop of a threat by the organization of enterprises in Cameroon commonly known by the French acronym, GECAM. The ultimatum was issued at the end of a GECAM meeting on February 12, 2025, that brought together its members that are importers, exporters, transit companies and syndicates of professional groups at the Douala Port.
Suspension Till Further Notice
Meanwhile, in the correspondence addressed to the General Manager of Transatlantic D on Monday, February 16, the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, said: “J’ai l’honneur de vous demander de bien vouloir suspendre partiellement a compter de ce jour jusqu’a nouvel ordre, l’execution de certaines clauses du contrat de concession, conclu le 25 Novembre 2025, entre le Port Autonome de Douala et Transatlantic D. SA, relative a l’inspection integrale pas scanner des flux import / export transitant par le Port de Douala – Bonaberi, dans le cadre du projet de securisation dudit port”.
The approximate translation: “I have the honour to demand that you should as from this day, partially suspend till further notice, the execution of certain clauses of the concession contract that was concluded on 25 November 2025, between the Douala Port Authority and Transatlantic D. SA, related to the integral inspection by scanner of the flux of imports and exports, transiting through the Douala –Bonaberi Port, in line with the project to secure the said port”.
This meant that the General Manager of the Douala Port Authority finally asked Transatlantic to leave the domain from which he illegally pushed out SGS Scanning Cameroun at the beginning of the year, and replaced it with his choice, Transatlantic D, in flagrant violation of the contract that the Cameroon Government signed with the Swiss Company, SGS, in 2015, which is still valid.
SGS Scanning Cameroun Resumes Activities
Following the February 16 decision by the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, to step out of the way of SCS Scanning Cameroun at the Douala Port, the company was back at the Douala Port the very next day (Tuesday, February 17) to resume activities, as stranded importers, exporters, transit companies and other actors at the Douala Port like professional groups, heaved a sigh of relief. SGS was able to effectively resume operation on that Tuesday, February 17, because despite the fact that the management of PAD pushed the company out of the Douala Port early last month for Transatlantic D to take over its activities, most of the company’s installations remained in place.
Above all, the Customs Service at the Port, kept intact all the SGS digital installations and other equipment that directly link the Customs Office at the port to the scanners of SGS. This enables the Customs Service to get at the same time like the SGS, all the information that the scanners are picking up from a container being scanned. It would be recalled that when last week the Customs stopped collaboration with Transatlantic, the Customs immediately disconnected all the company’s computers and other equipment at the Customs Office, and handed them back to the company. That was how Transatlantic was put out of action at the port, because the company could not go ahead with the scanning operation, without the collaboration of the Customs, as the Customs is the principal service for which the information from the scanning operation is meant.
GECAM Holds Evaluation Meeting
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, February 18, the organization of Cameroon enterprises commonly known by the French acronym, GECAM, organized an evaluation meeting of the situation at the Douala Port. This was a follow up to the first meeting which held on Thursday, February 12, 2026, and ended with GECAM issuing an ultimatum to the Douala Port Authority to immediately restore order at the Douala Port, by ending the crisis that started since early January, and has caused many companies as well as the State coffer, big financial loses. The ultimatum did not go down with the Douala Port Authority.
Meanwhile the main participants at the evaluation meeting that GICAM organized on Thursday, February 18, were the representatives of the Douala Ports Authority and SGS Scanning Cameroun SA, as well as the representative of the Littoral 1 Customs Sector, which covers the Douala Port.
At the meeting, SGS Scanning, PAD and the Customs, all confirmed that SGS effectively resumed its activities at the Douala Port on February 17, 2026, and that everything was moving on in order, in line with the contract that the Government signed with the company in 2015. The meeting also discussed measures that the main actors, that is SGS, PAD and the Customs Service at the Douala Port have to immediately put in place, to ensure a rapid decongestion of the Douala Port, with thousands of containers of merchandises that got stock at the port, because of the crisis. Another issue discussed was how importers and exporters that were forced to pay double the scanning fee of a single container, because of the conflict that was ranging at the port, will have to be reimbursed to the victims. An importer or exporter is normally supposed to pay only once the fee for the scanning of a container.
Meanwhile, in a communiqué that the President of GICAM, Celestin TAWAMBA, signed at the end of the meeting, GICAM saluted the final return of normalcy to the Douala Port. GECAM also seized the opportunity to inform enterprises across the country that carry out their import or export businesses through the Douala Port, that serenity is returning to the port.
