Dubai Ports (DP) World has joined the Ethiopian logistics sector to develop the Ethiopian side of the Berbera Corridor as a major trade and logistics corridor for international trade routes.
Aiming to develop the Ethiopian side of the corridor, the Ethiopian Ministry of Transport and DP World signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this week at Hyatt Regency hotel.
It was said DP, the Emirati logistics company known for cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services, and free trade zones, envisages investing up to one billion dollars in the next ten years to develop the supply chain infrastructure along the corridor.
DP’s corridor development will include dry ports, silos, warehouses, container yards, cool and cold chain depots, freight forwarding and clearing activities parallel with the implementation of IT infrastructure in the trade route.
While signing the MoU, Ethiopia’s Minister of Transport, Dagmawit Moges explained that an investment summit was overseen by the transport sector two months ago after identifying 44 projects to unlock to foreign and local investors independently and in partnerships as well.
DP World, one of the participants in the summit, showed interest and reached an agreement to develop the Ethiopian side of the corridor to diversify Ethiopia’s port access facilities and services in the ten-year national logistics policy.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO of DP World, said the Berbera trade and logistics corridor will unlock huge economic benefits, create new jobs, attract new business and investment as well as diversify and strengthen Ethiopia’s access to international trade by having a direct and efficient link between Ethiopia and the Berbera dry port.
As part of the development of the corridor, a road infrastructure that will connect Berbera port to Wajjale at the border is under construction and is expected to be completed at the end of this fiscal year, funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for development and the UK’s Department for International Development.
Furthermore, DP World is launching DUBUY.com, a global wholesale e-commerce platform, in Ethiopia. The commercial platform will serve as an online marketplace that will help give access to global markets for small and medium-sized Ethiopian enterprises, through DP World’s worldwide ports and logistics network.
Mahmood Al Bastaki, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Trade World, told The Reporter that because of the presence of DP in the six continents, the scale of the company is very big and contains 10 percent of the world’s containers and is highly investing in technology and especially in plug-in e-commerce
By Ilias Tegegn
