DP World Plans Logistics Facility in Ethiopia
Shailaja A. Lakshmi
July 1, 2018
Dubai-based ports operator DP World has revealed plans to set up a logistics facility in landlocked Ethiopia, a move that comes as the company is developing a port in neighboring Somaliland.
A reuters report quoting the United Arab Emirates state news agency, WAM said that the Sultan bin Sulayem, DP World Group's chairman & CEO and chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation informed the media that the logistics complex in Ethiopia to cater to the landlocked African countries.
Business groups in Dubai can always benefit from DP World's presence in different countries, including Rwanda and Egypt, where re-exporting opportunities are abundant, bin Sulayem quoted as saying.
DP World, one of the world's top five largest port operators, didn’t reveal financial details, or provide a timeline for the project, but said it had signed a number of agreements in Ethiopia to pave way for the development.
About 95 percent of Ethiopia's inbound trade is handled by Djibouti which neighbours both Ethiopia and Somaliland.
DP World signed an agreement with the Somaliland government in 2016 to invest $442 million (Dh1.62 billion) in the Port of Berbera on Africa's east coast and manage it in a 30-year concession. In March, Ethiopia became a 19 per cent shareholder in the Port of Berbera, with DP World controlling 51 per cent stake in the project and Somaliland holding the remaining 30 per cent. However, Somalia, which doesn’t recognise Somaliland’s 1991 declaration of autonomy, dismissed the deal as “null and void”.
