East Africa Opens it First Inland Dry Port

Dubai-based global port operator DP World and the Rwandan government have opened East Africa’s first Inland Dry Port, 20 kilometers from the capital city Kigali and close to the international airport.

DP World Kigali logistics hub is a secure, bonded facility spread over 13 hectares and features an Inland Container Terminal (ICT) with modern warehousing capacity, a container yard, administrative and services buildings, parking areas and other facilities.

According to a release from the world's port terminal operator, DP World Kigali accesses two secure trade gateways for eastern Africa, the port of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Rwanda is working closely with Tanzania on a new standard gauge railway from Dar es Salaam to Kigali that will add a direct rail corridor to the two existing road routes, furt­her improving connectivity for containers and bulk goods.

Currently the cost of transport of a 20 foot container from Shanghai China to Mombasa costs anywhere between 500 USD to 1000 USD. The cost of transport of the same container from Mombasa to Kigali varies between 3000 USD to 4000 USD. The introduction of DPWK will serve the inland logistics problems, delays and cost by providing a one stop shop for all logistics requirements and cargo services.

The facility offers container handling, stuffing and de-stuffing, warehousing, storage and other cargo handling services. Impo­s from overseas can be routed through Kigali Logistics Platform for onward distribution to the surrounding countries of Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the DRC, a growing region of over 40 million people.