DP World, a leading provider of integrated logistics solutions, and the Government of Somaliland, today inaugurated the new container terminal at Berbera Port, following completion of the first phase of the port’s expansion as part of its development into a major regional trade hub to serve the Horn of Africa.
The new terminal was officially opened by His Excellency 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. 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 ship to shore (STS) gantry cranes, can handle the largest container vessels in operation today, and increases the port’s container capacity from current 150,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) to 500,000 TEUs annually. The terminal also includes a modern container yard with eight rubber tyred 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.
The company also brought in graduates from local colleges/universities – in our view this is a very important thing on a number of fronts. Newly created jobs not only provide a chance for these local graduates to build a sustainable career, but it gives hope to thousands of other students right across the country.
It has expanded range of products. Since opening with Coca Cola brand fizzy drinks, SBI have since expanded to mineral water with their flagship brand Dasani.
SBI also opened a water bottling plant in Burao (Somaliland’s 2nd largest city in the Togdheer region) – once again generating new job opportunities.