COOLING & REFRIGERATION, A MAJOR ECONOMIC BOOST IN AFRICA

When addressing this topic, my thoughts went to Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, which despite its enormous potentials, in terms of solar energy, suffers from a glaring electricity deficit.

Mr. FONJU Bernard FUELANCHA, Barrister and Solicitor of the Cameroon Bar Association.

Managing Partner of FONJU’s Business Law Firm Douala Cameroon, President of DOUALA Anglophone Lawyers Association, Former Legal Assistant at the ICTR, Member of the CIB

We all agree on the importance of energy for the functioning of all industries throughout the world, particularly in Africa. It is easy to say that stagnation, or rather underdevelopment, is attributable to the lack of energy on the continent.

To illustrate this assertion, let us take a single case where the lack of refrigeration caused heavy losses to a Cameroonian company¹.

HERE ARE THE FACTS

During the first four months of 2023, the company called CONGELES DU CAMEROUN, abbreviated as CONGELCAM, imported nearly 3,000 refrigerated containers of fish to be stored in the Régie du Terminal à Conteneurs, abbreviated as RTC, at the Douala Ports Authority, abbreviated as PAD.

In June of that year, the RTC, feeling over tasked, had to disconnect the refrigerated containers containing fish from CONGELCAM.

Of the 633 refrigerated containers, 600 containers containing fresh fish deteriorated, and the report by the Cameroonian Minister of Public Health concluded: « The report of the inspection and control mission carried out by the technical teams of my ministerial department at the container terminal authority (RTC) notes unsatisfactory storage temperatures for the fish products imported by your company. » This indicates that the fish was unhealthy for consumption and therefore the 600 containers had to be destroyed, at the expense of CONGELCAM.

It should be noted that CONGELCAM controls 80% of the local market for imported fish products and, in February 2023 alone, they imported 626 containers of refrigerated products for the RTC park, which the latter described as « SATURATION » of its park.

CONGELCAM has reported a loss of nearly 13 billion CFA francs, which it attributes to RTC and PAD.

However, RTC claims to have taken all necessary measures to avoid the worst, in particular by renting generators to increase its connection capacity from 210 to 730 outlets.

To better understand this difficulty, it should be noted that, at the time of the events, the Container Terminal Authority of the Autonomous Ports Authority of Douala was the entity with a monopoly on the refrigeration of fishery products in Cameroon.

Cameroon is a country in Central and West Africa located between Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The official languages are French and English, with around 250 ethnic groups, covering an area of 475,442 km².

Is a Cameroonian company that distributes and sells seafood products. Founded in 1994 by businessman Sylvestre NGOUCHINGHE, it holds 80% of the Cameroonian market for the distribution and sale of seafood products.

This imbroglio ultimately prompted CONGELCAM to redirect its containers to the Port Authority of Kribi, abbreviated as PAK ⁶, which is located more than 300 km from the city of Douala, thus causing a loss of revenue for the RTC.

The above example is the most recent case in Cameroon that clearly illustrates the role of refrigeration in a country’s economy.

Here, we have only mentioned the case of one sector: seafood products, and only one country, namely Cameroon.

In the case mentioned above, due to the lack of adequate refrigeration, a single company lost more than 13 billion CFA francs in February 2023 alone.

Imagine similar cases in other sectors of activity such as food preservation, agricultural products and others.

Huge, but untapped, energy potential

Based on current energy consumption, the Sahara Desert has the potential to power the world. The desert can transform Africa into a solar energy superpower.

If 0.1% OF THE SAHARA DESERT WAS TO BE covered with solar panels to harvest the energy, this energy would be sufficient to feed the entire Africa. Also, just about 0.3% of Solar Energy from the Sahara is enough to power the whole Europe. Finally, if 1.2% of the Sahara Desert was tapped for energy, this would be sufficient to power the entire world

So how can we explain that with all this energy potential that Africa has, air conditioning, cooling and refrigeration are still a luxury for 77% of Africans?

It is clear that if this energy challenge is overcome, Africa will experience economic growth not only in the field of cooling and refrigeration but in many other areas.

It is up to us Africans, especially specialists and enthusiasts in the field of cooling, to take up the energy challenge for a more successful continent.