Nairobi News

DP World, a leading provider of integrated logistics solutions, and the Government of Somaliland on Thursday inaugurated the new container terminal at Berbera Port.

It follows the completion of phase one of the port’s expansion as part of its development into a major regional trade hub to serve the Horn of Africa.

The Somaliland Port is expected to complement the Lamu Port in Kenya.

The new terminal was officially opened by Muse Bihi Abdi, President of Somaliland, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, at a special event attended by over 200 guests, including a Government delegation from Ethiopia, led by their Excellencies Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance and Dagmawit Moges, Minister of Transport.

Kenya was represented at the function by Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku who led a delegation of Kenyan businessmen interested in investing at the Somaliland Port.

The event also included a symbolic ground-breaking for the new Berbera Economic Zone, the first phase of which is under construction.

The new container terminal with a deep draft of 17m, a quay of 400m, and three ships to shore (STS) gantry cranes, can handle the largest container vessels in operation today and increases the port’s container capacity from the current 150,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) to 500,000 TEUs annually.

The terminal also includes a modern container yard with eight rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs).

A new port One-Stop Service Centre is also currently being built and will be ready in quarter three this year.

DP World has committed to investing up to US$442 million to develop and expand Berbera Port, and with the first phase now complete, Mr bin Sulayem also announced that work is already underway to further expand the port in a second phase. This includes extending the new quay from 400 to 1,000 metres, and installing a further seven STS gantry cranes, increasing the total from three to 10, enabling the port to handle up to two million TEUs a year, and multiple large container vessels at the same time.

His Excellency Muse Bihi Abdi, President of Somaliland, said: “This is a proud and historic moment for Somaliland and its people, as the completion of the first phase has made our vision of establishing Berbera with its strategic location into a major trade hub in the region a reality. With the new terminal, along with the second phase of expansion and economic zone along the Berbera corridor, we are now firmly positioned to further develop and grow our economy through increased trade, attracting foreign direct investment and creating jobs”.

DP World Berbera, which began operations at the port in March 2017, has since increased volumes by 35 percent and vessel productivity by 300 percent, and reduced container vessel waiting time from four to five days, to only a few hours.

DP World and the Ethiopian Ministry of Transport signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May this year, with the aim of developing the Ethiopian side of the road linking Addis Ababa to Berbera, into one of the major trade and logistics corridors of the country’s international trade routes.