Djibouti has commissioned its $590- million state-of-the-art Doraleh multipurpose port at a time when fellow East African nations Kenya and Tanzania are investing heavily in port expansions in a bid to become the region’s shipping hub.
The new port, which occupies a 690 ha site, comprises 15 berths that are 1 200 m long, with its other facilities including container terminals, general cargo yards, bulk terminals, vehicles yards and a storage area for solid fuels such as steam coal and pet coke.
The port was financed by the Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority and China Merchant Holdings, and has cemented the country’s position as the main gateway to international markets for neighbouring landlocked Ethiopia, which depends on Djibouti for about 95% of its international trade.
“Djibouti is our main gateway and the new port [offers] huge additional port capacity that will help our fast-growing economy, since it is a modern and high-quality port,” says Ethiopian Transport Minister Ahmed Shide. The two countries have invested in a 752 km railway line connecting Djibouti with Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa.
Kenya has been trying to woo Ethiopia to also consider using the Lamu port, which is currently under construction.
The Doraleh multipurpose port will also enable Djibouti to vie to become the gateway connecting East Africa to the outside world, particularly Asia and Europe. This is because the country is located on two of the three busiest shipping routes in the world, with 30 000 ships currently transiting through the Port of Djibouti each year.