On 30 July 2024, a consultation meeting was held at the head office of the Cameroon National Shippers‘ Council (CNSC) to discuss reasons for the extra surcharge of 25 dollars on containers imported via the Port of Douala, as reportedly announced by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) during the Chadian Shippers' Days held from 11 to 13 July 2024 in Ndjamena.

The meeting sought to understand MSC's reasons for introducing this surcharge, and above all its indifference to a correspondence from the Container Terminal Management (RTC) dated 12 July 2024 suspending the said extra surcharge.

Participants at the meeting included CNSC’s Sub-Director for Foreign Trade Promotion, Mr. Roger Dinh Essombe who chaired the meeting; Mrs. Grace Fomukong, Executive Secretary of the Cameroon

Union of Shipping agents and Ship-owners (UCAM); Mr. Parfait Dimi, Captain at the RTC Container Terminal of the Port Authority of Douala (PAD); Mr. Cyrille Ayinda, Sub-Director for Operations at RTC; and Mr. Patrice Tegankam Foba, Director of Administration and Finance at MSC.

In reaction to the concerns raised, MSC’s representative stated that there was no written document announcing the application by MSC of this $25 additional surcharge on containers imported at the Port of Douala as from 15 August 2024. Their discussions yielded one key resolution requiring that MSC must dispel any ambiguity relating to this new surcharge by publishing a formal notice in all urgency.