Ethiopia uncomfortable with dependency on Djibouti port alone

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

May 3, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — Landlocked Ethiopia this week admitted the nation’s high dependency to only Djibouti port has become a big concern to her as the volume of its fast growing import-export trade keeps booming with time.

In a in a nine-month performance report it presented to the House of Peoples’ Representatives the Ministry of Transport and Communication on Tuesday said that although Ethiopia uses other alternative ports of neighboring countries most of its import-export trade is carried out through the port of Djibouti which accounts over 90% of the total import-export trade.

The report disclosed that relying on one port has become a bottleneck to the development of import-export trade in the country.

It added that Ethiopia is limited to the use of one port land shipping matters and the transit service are not compatible to the economic development and the demand for such services that arise as well..

Currently, Djibouti port, 910 kms east of Addis Ababa, serves as Ethiopia’s main sea gateway since the horn of Africa’s nation lost ports of Assab and Massawa following Eritrea’s independence.

Ethiopia’s annual cargo traffic at Djibouti port totals over 4.8 million tonnes. Ethiopia’s cargo accounts for 83 percent of the total cargo traffic at the port. Djibouti port has the capacity to handle ten millions tonnes of cargo and 500,000 containers per annum.

Ethiopia every year spends more than two billion birr for port service

In recent years the Ethiopian government led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi doesn’t seem to withstand the high dependency on a single port and has begun efforts to identify alternative ports.

Ethiopian authorities have been assessing the port of Somaliland, Berbera, Port Sudan and the Mombassa port of Kenya as an alternative.

The Ethiopian government is also under repeated high pressure from Ethiopian businessmen who are seeking alternative, cheaper routes through which they can export and import goods

As Part of efforts to ease dependency on the port of Djibouti,Ethiopia is also forging better road links with its neighbors Sudan and Kenya

The port of Assab in the south of Eritrea was used almost exclusively by Ethiopia but since the 1998-2000 deadly border war, the port has gone idle.

Since Ethiopia went in war with Eritrea, the port of Djibouti became the only significant port for Ethiopia. Millions of dollars of goods shipping each year through the port to Ethiopia, and more than 30,000 barrels of oil a day are required just to meet Ethiopia’s fuel needs.

(ST)

4 Forum messages

Ethiopia uncomfortable with dependency on Djibouti port alone 4 May 2009 03:22, by junub

Editors,

You right, I understood why do you folks favoured to publish the Ethiopian news than the other countries’ on Sudantribune. But the problem is we have some blind people within us who thing the seperation of South will glorify us, which not. I’m for New Sudan anyways regardless to what my fellow militiamen are daydreaming for.

Ethiopia uncomfortable with dependency on Djibouti port alone 4 May 2009 07:51, by Ichok Malou

Bravo Junub!

That is one step to coming for understanding what is the important of a port.I use to verball with my south sudanese mates about being a landlock nation won’t prosper us completly though we depend on Kenya.I don’t see anything good that kenyans had given or taught us where we brotherly trust them.

People always give an example of some countries in African of which they think are prosperous landlock nation enjoying their neighbours ports to import and export where Ethiopia, Chad CAR are thoes countries(landlock) and now Ethiopia has barked at day time.

South Sudan is the most undeveloped nation and the richest nation in the worldat the same time.How could we really tap these oil and other countries with port would benefit from it and not us.In Nigeria people steal oil from the pipes and sell it on the black market and don’t we guys know that Kenyans are number two in such crime in Africa.

I personally don’t trust Kenyans and would rathar trust North Sudanese because we can physically fight eacth othr as brothers untill we get our right at the end.If kenyans steal the oil what would you do envade kenya or go to ICC for crime of stealing your oil! don’t think so.

The problem is not our Northerners, it is our leaders who betray us image thousand of billions of dollars has been embezzled by particular individuals and there is no any investigation to execute thoes crimals.
- Ethiopia uncomfortable with dependency on Djibouti port alone 4 May 2009 08:55, by jmnda me
  
  TO: 1-MOTO MOTO
  2-PROBE LOGIC
  3-GATWECH
  4-AKOI
  5- LOKUTAWENG
  6-AROCHTHON
  7-BABA
  8-SHIDD SIMON
  9- AXAN
  MY dear brother southern sudanese.i know you can do a lots of good think to our conutry with your very voluvol time you spaned tearing dwon one another.it is not that i think iam better then you’nour i thouht that i know more then you do.in fact i lerned so mach from you in very littel time.i totaly understaned the councern of ach and evry one of you.
  but there are so many think that we need to take in to uccont here.
  1-our tribe are not all porpact.there for we must do our homework farst befor we jup to attac our other respactive trib.
  2-we must know that our enmey could be well bhained all this tribal conflict’cince they are going to be the banfcuir of any outcome.remember the enmey is too smart to acknower.some of them can even use our tribs name in oraer to meniupelit our discoution’so we can just spaned most of our time talking about tribalsim issue. inset of the real new sudan issue.
  brthers and sisters,if you love your trib’’then you should love all the other trib.because your trib alone can not be the south sudan what so ever
  dear brothers.your leadership is wanted in south sudan now more then ever.
  let us think and servce for coause of something greater then our self.
  thanks may god bless you all,may god bless south sudan.(jmnda)
- Ethiopia uncomfortable with dependency on Djibouti port alone 4 May 2009 09:04, by junub
  
  Thanks Malou,
  
  I was actually been bagged all these times by the Ethiopian news until yesterday when I guts to ask beneath an Ethiopian news that why do they (the publishers) always opt to publish the Ethiopian news only on Sudantribune but not with the other nieghbouring countries?
  
  But what I found out about these editors or publishers is that they are paying their attention after 2011 when South voted for seperation.
  
  Believe me many fan of this website don’t read any news to do with Ethiopia because we are much attracted with the news to do with tribalism. When I saw the headline reading Ethiopia...., I told myself I’m sick of this news to do with Ethiopia but let me read it anyway as they want it to be read.
  
  You right you said it all man that we shouldn’t give our all trust to Kenya, because trusting of Kenya is like trusting a prostitute who’ll be nice with you now but tomorrow when you meet her on the street, she will acts as if she haven’t seen you before leave alone knowing.
  
  To me, seperation have not been made attractive by those who advocatine the seceding of the South to an independent state. Those who call for seperation call it blindly that we have to secede and that it. They don’t care whether we are seperating to go and seperate, no, not really. Their motive is that we have to get away from the rulers in north regardless to what our country is going to be.
  
  But for that excuse, I says seperation is not the good option to solves the problem in Sudan, but rather New Sudan but not unity as they are trying to complicate it. We have no problem with unity because even in South, we need unity. So the problem shouldn’t be Seperation vs Unity, but rather a Seperation vs New Sudan.