Carriers added roughly 347,500 TEU of capacity on the Asia to West Africa trade in a year, a rise of 34.4 percent, on Alphaliner data reported on 13 August 2026. The weekly operational update published on 18 August shows vessel waiting times across the same coast ranging from 3.0 to 19.0 days. For an importer working through Douala or Kribi, the second series matters more than the first.

Blue Star Media, Daily Brief, Wednesday 19 August 2026. Ports and logistics.

Two publications from the same week describe the West African market from opposite ends, and that is exactly what makes them useful together. Capacity data measures slots offered by shipping lines: how many thousand twenty foot equivalent units are deployed on a given trade at a given date. The operational update measures time spent at anchorage, a delay incurred before those slots become usable on the ground. Everything that makes up the real logistics cost of a Cameroonian import sits between the two.

Between May 2025 and May 2026 the Asia to West Africa trade gained roughly 347,500 TEU, a rise of 34.4 percent year on year, on Alphaliner data reported on 13 August 2026. Most of it sits in a single service, MSC's Africa Express, worked with around fifteen ships of about 24,000 TEU each. Widened to all Africa-related services, the gain reaches 576,100 TEU, or 25.3 percent. The number of ships operating the West African trade rose from 122 in January 2025 to 164 in January 2026, with average vessel size up 4.5 percent.

Demand has moved partly in step. MB Shipbrokers analysis cited on 13 August 2026 puts West African containerised imports up 15 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, with March running 8 percent above its level a year earlier. One caution is needed here, and the original publication states it explicitly: the two series are not the same kind of measure. One counts slots offered, the other boxes actually carried. Adding them together, or comparing them term by term, would not make sense.

Kuehne+Nagel calculates a seven day rolling average of time spent at anchorage by mainline vessels, excluding feeders, idle ships with no announced next port, and vessels passing through the anchorage without intending to call. The provider classes a port as slightly disrupted above two days of average waiting and heavily disrupted above four.

Along the West African coast, the 18 August 2026 assessment runs from 3.0 days at Tincan-Lagos to 19.0 days at Conakry, with Abidjan at 5.25 days and Tema at 6.83 days. These are a logistics provider's estimates, built from its seaexplorer platform and carrier advisories, not official port statistics. They move week to week with vessel bunching, equipment availability and the season.

Cameroon's position needs to be stated carefully, because the data is missing rather than contradictory. Douala appeared in the 11 August 2026 edition at 2.0 days of average waiting, with a note on seasonal rainfall and axle load restrictions. The Africa panel published on 18 August lists neither Douala nor Kribi. The provider's method is to flag ports under alert, so an absence reflects the absence of a flag, not zero waiting. An article from the same source published in February 2026 put average waiting at the two Cameroonian ports at two to three days, attributing it to mainline connections and high yard utilisation.

The costly time is ashore

The only series published by the port authority itself confirms where the issue sits. In its review of 2022 performance, the analysis, forecasting and cooperation directorate of the Port Autonome de Douala records average container ship waiting at the base buoy falling from 87.14 hours in 2021 to 37.05 hours in 2022, after two mobile cranes entered service and a gantry was returned to work. For the same year, average import container dwell stood at 9.01 days, against 10.56 the year before.

Tens of hours on one side, more than a week on the other. That gap shows where most immobilised time actually sits, and it is why the capacity wave matters less than it first appears to a Cameroonian importer. An extra service improves frequency and the depth of available slots, and therefore planning flexibility. It does nothing for yard dwell, storage charges, clearance time, or the cost of inland haulage to Yaounde, N'Djamena or Bangui. Those are negotiated and optimised locally, not in Shanghai.

The ocean price itself is poorly represented by public indices for this trade. Drewry's composite, assessed on 13 August 2026, stood at 4,339 dollars per 40 foot container, up 1 percent on the week after three weeks of decline. It aggregates transpacific and Asia to Europe pairs, with no direct mainhaul into Central Africa. It is a gauge of general supply tension, not a reference price for a Douala shipment.

One further factor, external to the region, bears on the equation. The gradual return of services to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal frees ships previously absorbed by routings around the Cape of Good Hope. Reuters reported on 10 August 2026 that Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd had resumed another container service on the route. If that continues, total available capacity rises further, which points to downward pressure on freight rates and no direct effect on time spent ashore.

Liner capacity on the Asia to West Africa trade is up 34.4 percent year on year, roughly 347,500 TEU, mostly through one very large vessel service.

That measure counts slots offered, not cargo carried. The two series should not be conflated.

Average vessel waiting assessed on 18 August 2026 spans 3.0 to 19.0 days along the coast, on a logistics provider's estimates rather than official statistics.

Douala was assessed at 2.0 days on 11 August 2026. Its absence from the 18 August panel reflects the absence of a flag.

Port Autonome de Douala figures for 2022 show vessel time counted in tens of hours against import container dwell of 9.01 days. The second drives cost.

No recent public series gives average import container dwell at Douala and Kribi for 2026. That is the missing number.

Primary. Kuehne+Nagel weekly port operational updates, 11 and 18 August 2026, seaexplorer platform, including the methodology note on average waiting time. Port Autonome de Douala, review of commercial, operational and economic performance, analysis, forecasting and cooperation directorate. Drewry World Container Index, 13 August 2026. Cameroon Customs, management committee of 18 August 2026. BEAC, monetary policy committee of 29 June 2026 and monetary policy report published 2 July 2026.

Secondary. Alphaliner capacity data and MB Shipbrokers analysis reported by The Africa Logistics on 13 August 2026. Reuters, 10 August 2026. Stratline (Investir au Cameroun), 15 May and 20 July 2026.

Dollar amounts are quoted as published by the source, without conversion. Any conversion into CFA francs uses the fixed peg 1 EUR = 655.957 FCFA and is flagged as a conversion.

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