The Challenge

In Cameroon, airport clearance processes for air cargo and express shipments are slow, complex and unpredictable. Despite the time-sensitive nature of these goods, often including medicines, perishables and e-commerce parcels, clearance remains heavily paper-based, fragmented and duplicative.

Air cargo manifests, a document used in the air freight industry to list and describe all items loaded onto an aircraft, are manually entered into the customs system and therefore frequently submitted late, creating delays and limiting the ability to process shipments before arrival. Express shipments can take 3 to 5 days to clear, sometimes longer than standard freight. As a result, up to 40% of small parcels are abandoned, as delays and costs make recovery uneconomical for traders.

These inefficiencies increase the cost of trading across borders, reduce the competitiveness of Cameroon’s airports, and disproportionately affect small and e-commerce businesses, including many women-led enterprises. They also limit Cameroon’s ability to position itself as a regional logistics hub.

 

What We Are Doing

The Alliance is working with the Government of Cameroon and private sector partners to streamline and modernise airport clearance processes at Douala and Yaoundé international airports.

We are focusing on four key areas:

  • Simplifying procedures: mapping and redesigning clearance processes to remove redundancies, reduce paperwork and align with international best practices.
  • Promoting digitalisation: enable electronic submission of air cargo data to the Cameroon Customs Information System (CAMCIS) to reduce delays, improve automation and support risk-based controls.
  • Building capacity: training customs officials and private sector users to apply new procedures and systems effectively.
  • Strengthening public-private dialogue: establishing dedicated platforms at each airport to improve coordination, resolve bottlenecks and sustain reforms.

 

The Impacts

By making airport clearance faster and more predictable, the project will:

  • reduce clearance times and costs for air freight and express shipments
  • improve reliability for time-sensitive goods, including medicines and perishables
  • increase transparency and predictability for traders
  • boost competitiveness in Cameroon’s private sector, particularly small businesses
  • boost the competitiveness of Cameroon’s airports as regional logistics hubs
  • strengthen cooperation between border agencies and the private sector

It will also directly support Cameroon’s National Development Strategy (NDS30) and help advance trade facilitation priorities such as improving customs performance and accelerating digitalisation of public services. Ultimately, the project will contribute to building more efficient, modern and inclusive trade systems in Cameroon.