Cameroon’s main port of Douala has reopened, the country’s transport minister announced on Tuesday, days after a collision between two cargo ships shut down the navigation channel. One of the vessels involved was Cyprus-flagged.
Two vessels collided in the early hours of Sunday near buoy No. 20 in the Douala-Bonaberi channel: the Tuvalu-flagged MV Sea Honor, which was leaving port, and the Cyprus-flagged MV Black Rhino, which was arriving. Nobody was killed, though both ships suffered serious damage. The crash shut the channel to traffic for a period, cutting off access to one of Central Africa’s busiest ports; how long the disruption lasted was not made public.
Douala-Bonaberi handles most of Cameroon’s maritime trade and functions as a vital gateway for goods moving in and out of landlocked Chad and the Central African Republic.
An investigation into the cause is now under way, the Port Authority of Douala said. Early findings point to a steering failure aboard the Black Rhino as the likely trigger.
Transport Minister Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe described the response in a statement: “MV Sea Honor was cleared from the channel and towed to the anchorage area, while MV Black Rhino was deliberately run aground along the line of red buoys to ensure the safety of navigation and facilitate clearance operations.”
All 15 crew members on board the Black Rhino were brought to safety and given assistance under the country’s standard maritime rescue procedures, according to the transport ministry.
The channel is now fully clear, the ministry said, and shipping traffic through the port has returned to normal.
(With information from Reuters)