Source : http://www.tigraionline.com
Ahmed Tusa, Director-General of the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise (ELSE), has announced that Ethiopia will acquire nine new ships within the current Ethiopian fiscal year. The vessels, which are now under construction in China at a cost of 4 billion birr, are expected to be handed over in June. Ato Ahmed said the new vessels will make a significant contribution to strengthening the nation’s maritime transport capacity and will help increase the amount of cargo carried by Ethiopian vessels from 20% to 50%.
The Enterprise is currently studying possible new routes and destinations for the additional ships, which include two tankers and seven multi-purpose vessels. ESLE also received two vessels last December from China. Ato Ahmed also outlined the ELSE’s efforts to resolve the problems associated with the newly introduced multi-modal transport system. He said that the recruitment of a foreign consulting company "which will have the task of charting procedures that [will] enable the Enterprise to offer efficient and effective service is now completed ".
Apart from the Mojo Dry Port and Comet Transport facilities, which have the capacity of holding 9,300 containers, a new terminal at Bekelcha Transport premises in Adama is underway. At completion, the terminal will be able to handle another 2,500 containers.
The ELSE has been able to lower the number of containers stacked up in Djibouti Port which at one point reached over 25,000, to just over a thousand through the implementation of new procedures and coordinated efforts with other relevant government departments. It is now working on reducing the numbers of containers at the Dry Ports, and has asked importers to collect their containers on time to relieve congestion at the dry ports.
