Country desk
Conakry handles Guinea's general cargo while the bauxite terminals along the coast and the new iron ore export terminal bring some of the largest bulk carriers in Africa to anchorage stations and dedicated jetties.
Maingate Shipping Limited coordinates ship agency across Guinea for owners, charterers, managers, traders and lines. The trade through Guinean ports is bauxite, alumina and iron ore outbound; rice, wheat, cement, fuel and containers inbound. Mali by road.
Formalities: the autonomous port of Conakry and the mining companies' own terminals. The desk works with them on every call and keeps the principal clear of the detail unless the detail matters.
Operational note for Guinea: anchorage transshipment of bauxite and mine-controlled loading programmes mean the agent works with the mine's schedule as much as the port's.
Each port has its own desk with the terminals, the cargo and the services a call needs.
Guinea's ports are Conakry, Kamsar. Conakry handles rice, wheat, cement and fuel inbound, with bauxite, alumina and now iron ore outbound from the terminals north and south of the city through the container terminal, the general cargo and bagged cargo berths, and the bulk terminals for bauxite along the coast. Kamsar handles bauxite in bulk outbound, with fuel, equipment and supplies for the mining companies inbound through the bauxite loading terminal fed by rail from the Sangarédi mines, and the anchorage transshipment stations where capesize vessels load from barges.
Calls at each port are attended by our partner agent there under Maingate's instruction, with the Mombasa desk issuing the proforma DA, tracking the call and closing the account.
Much of what lands in Guinea is going somewhere else: Mali by road. The receiver's clearing agent, the transit bond, the delivery order and the truck or wagon are as much part of the call as the crane, and the desk keeps them moving with the discharge.
Documents follow the cargo inland; quantities are reconciled at the quay before the vessel sails.
Every Guinean call touches the same authorities: the autonomous port of Conakry and the mining companies' own terminals. Filing ahead, in the format each expects, is what keeps a vessel from waiting at anchor for a stamp.
Reports to the principal follow one style at every port: pre-arrival, daily, departure with the statement of facts, then the final DA.
Anchorage transshipment of bauxite and mine-controlled loading programmes mean the agent works with the mine's schedule as much as the port's. Crew changes, bunkers, spares, cash to master and medical cases are handled at the port that suits the itinerary, and the desk tells the principal at nomination which port that is.
Owners whose charterers appoint the cargo agent place these matters with the desk as protecting agent.
Conakry, Kamsar, each with its own desk in this cluster. Smaller ports and anchorages are covered on request.
Our partner agent at each port, appointed and instructed by Maingate Shipping; the Mombasa desk coordinates and is responsible to the principal.
Yes. Multi-port itineraries are handled as one appointment with a separate DA per port on one account.
Yes, at each port according to its airport and immigration arrangements, described on the crew change desk for that port.
Send the vessel's particulars, ETA, port, cargo or purpose and the principal's details to the desk by email; a proforma DA follows promptly.
Nominate Maingate Shipping and the answer comes from Mombasa with a proforma DA attached.
The Guinea desk connects to the port desks below and to the Africa agency line.
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