Caught between political ambitions and port realities, maritime security remains the Achilles’ heel of African ports and impacts their competitiveness.
The Maritimafrica Week, held in Lomé from September 10 to 12, 2025, brought together public actors, experts, and operators from the maritime sector.
The event highlighted the urgent need for action in the face of maritime safety and security challenges. Separately from the summit, the Cameroonian experience of PortSec illustrates an operational model that is working.
During the panel dedicated to maritime security, the link between port safety, economic competitiveness, and state sovereignty was emphasised. Speakers noted that these objectives remain fragile due to external dependencies and still-insufficient local mechanisms.
The remaining task is to transform intentions into capabilities. Amidst dispersed funding, regional cooperation needing improvement, and external dependencies requiring reduction, maritime Africa is now staking its economic credibility. Failing to act risks modern terminals becoming costly sieves rather than engines of competitiveness.
African ambitions and external dependencies
Faced with these challenges, African states display their ambitions. The Lomé Charter on Maritime Safety and Security of 2016, intended to mark a decisive turning point, and its implementation remain incomplete. As for the African Union Maritime Transport Charter, it only entered into force in 2025, fifteen years after its adoption, a symbol of persistent inertia.
Amid this situation, some countries are advancing alone. Morocco has massively modernised its coast guards and intensified cooperation with the European Union and the United States, positioning itself “at the forefront” of African maritime security.
This strategy demonstrates that investing in security is not a cost but a lever for attractiveness. For many experts, port security remains “the forgotten imperative of attractiveness.” Investments focus on terminal expansion and logistics optimisation, often relegating security to a secondary role, despite it being decisive for securing and stabilising trade flows.
“Without judicial reforms and the effective application of law at sea, the fight against maritime crime will remain unfinished,” warns the independent think tank Le Rubicon, which specialises in defense, security, and international law issues.
The Gulf of Guinea, a tense front
With its rich fisheries and oil resources, the Gulf of Guinea encapsulates all the paradoxes: immense economic potential but persistent threats. Piracy, drug trafficking, oil siphoning, smuggling, and illegal fishing structure a criminal economy that undermines coastal states.
While attacks have declined, from 26 in 2019 to 6 in 2024, according to the MICA Center, this has come at the cost of increasing militarisation and regional initiatives like the Yaoundé Architecture.
However, governance remains fragmented: poorly enforced right of pursuit, sovereignty rivalries, and slow ratification processes.
In Lomé, during Maritimafrica Week 2025, this finding was placed within the broader framework of the blue economy. The Togolese capital, a regional showcase with its deep-water port, aims to position itself as a logistics and financial hub. Yet, the security issue acts as a barrier: a port exposed to trafficking loses attractiveness and weakens national sovereignty.
Port security enhancement
In this context, the project led by PortSec SA in Douala offers a concrete example of port security enhancement. Since 2019, the company has deployed the Douala Port Security (DPS) program, which combines drone surveillance, long-range radars, biometric controls, and specialised training.
Available figures show an approximately 35% reduction in cargo theft between 2019 and 2023 and strengthened regional coordination within the framework of the Yaoundé Architecture.
This Cameroonian experience raises a broader question: how to transpose this type of mechanism to other African ports with vastly different institutional and financial realities?
The model developed by PortSec shows that a combination of technological tools, training, and regional cooperation can improve safety and strengthen a platform’s logistical credibility.
The challenge is no longer so much the model’s relevance as the conditions for its adaptation across the continent, with the aim of having a secure maritime space that can fully realise its potential for the continent’s development.
AP/lb/as/APA