All imported goods to Ethiopia are subjected to customs duties and taxes, unless exempted by law. Taxes applicable on imported goods are; Excise Tax, Value Added Tax, Sur Tax and withholding tax. The rates differ according to the type of the good.

Duty is tariff collected on the value of the good calculated on the basis of its actual total costs. It is levied in accordance with the rules of the international convention on the harmonized customs description and coding system. Sur-tax applies on all imported goods, except those exempted by the Council of Ministers Regulation No. 133/2007 at 10 percent rate. Excise tax is paid on imported goods with a percentage rate ranging from 0 to as high as 100. VAT on imported goods is a flat rate of 15 %. A 3 percent withholding tax applies also on imported goods. These taxes are calculated based on the cost and freight rate. But the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority provides its own CD with details on prices on various goods. The rate is usually calculated as per the price on the CD.This CD is to be updated every three months.

Some imported goods are restricted and require the importer to secure permission from the competent authority.

Here is Duty and taxes applicable on some of major import goods in Ethiopia:

Vehicles, Chemicals, Steel, Petroleum and its products

Vehicles

Vehicles with spark–ignition engine of cylinder capacity of 1000-1300cc

Unit of measurement: unit
Duty Rate: 35%
Excise Tax: 30%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding tax: 3%

Vehicles with spark–ignition engine of cylinder capacity of 1300-1800cc

Duty Rate: 35%
Excise Tax: 60%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding tax: 3%

Vehicles with spark–ignition engine of cylinder capacity greater than 3000cc

Duty Rate: 35%
Excise Tax: 100%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding tax: 3%

Diesel vehicles with cylinder capacity not exceeding 1300cc

Duty Rate: 35%
Excise Tax: 30%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding tax: 3%

Diesel vehicles with cylinder capacity of 1300-1500cc

Duty Rate: 35%
Excise Tax: 60%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding tax: 3%
Motor vehicles for the transport of goods

Duty Rate: 10%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding tax: 3%

Public transport type vehicles (diesel/semi-d) seat capacity greater than or equal to 15 passengers

Duty Rate: 10%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding tax: 3%

Chemicals

Chemical fertilizers of nitrogenous, phospatic, photassic, phosphates and chemical fertilizers with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are exempt from Duty, Excise Tax and Sur tax. But they are subject to 15% VAT and 3% withholding tax. Importation of chemical fertilizers require permission from Ministry of Agriculture and Quality & Standards Authority of Ethiopia

Chemical preparations for photographic use

Unit of measurement: Kg
Duty Rate: 10%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Unbleached coniferous chemicals, wood pulp, soda or sulphate

Duty Rate: 0%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Other chemical products and residuals

Duty Rate: 10%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Steel (manufacturers get a better duty rate than importers and surtax on certain raw materials (Billets, Hot Rolled Coils, Wire Rod in coils) is 0%.

Unit of measurement: Kg

Flat/hot rolled iron/steel in coils, width >=600mm, with pattern in relief
Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Rolled iron/steel plated with chromium oxides, width >600mm

Duty Rate: 10%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Hot rolled iron/steel, on 4 faces, width >150mm but <600mm, >=4mm in thickness, not in coils.

Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Hot rolled iron/steel bars/rods, rectangular (other than square, x-section)

Duty Rate: 20%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Hot rolled U, I or H sections of iron/steel, <80mm high

Duty Rate: 10%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Hot rolled Angles/shapes/sections of iron/steel not further worked

Duty Rate: 10%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Hot rolled stainless steel in coils >=600mm by >10mm

Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Plates, sheets and strip of refined cooper in coils, >0.15mm thick

Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Aluminium foil rolled not backed
Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Petroleum and its products

Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude

Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 10%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Other petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals

Duty Rate: 0%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Petroleum coke

Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Petroleum bitumen

Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding Tax: 3%

Other residues of petroleum

Duty Rate: 5%
Excise Tax: 0%
VAT: 15%
Sur Tax: 0%
Withholding Tax: 3%

References
Customs Proclamation, No. 622/2009
Council of Ministers Regulation No. 133/2007
Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority Database.
Web: erca.gov.et

The Ethiopian government is set to reduce the transportation cost for the country’s foreign trade sector to enhance its competitiveness on the international market according to the document presented to transporters for discussion.

The final price of Ethiopian products on the international market owes a significant amount to trade logistic costs.

The price of transporting commodities through Port Djibouti, from Ethiopia, is notably higher at 6 US cents per ton/km as compared to 2.3 US cents in Pakistan and 4 US cents in Brazil according to the document.

Transport vehicles in Ethiopia cover just 60,000 km annually as opposed to 180,000km annually in other countries noted the document. The excessive down time of vehicles offering freight transport services via Port Djibouti is part of the reason behind the high rates according to the study conducted by the transport authority.

Operators will also need to reduce their current fuel consumption of an estimated 1000 liters by 10%.

Transport services will not lose profits because of these measures because an increase in the number of round trips and the decrease of down time and fuel consumption will offset the 27% cut on their rates.

Problems associated with custom clearance will need to be dealt with before transport operators can increase the number of trips and reduce down time according to representatives of the sector in meeting with the ministry.

The authority expects to put the new changes into effect in the next fiscal year.

Source: The Reporter

Water depth, wind level and geographical protection are factors in determining where the shipyard will be erected, according to Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of the Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority.

“Otherwise, you will have to build a very expensive facility for a water break,” he told Fortune.

With the desire to incorporate dry dock and lift system models, the ship maintenance yard will be the ninth on the continent and the second on the East African coast, next to the 70-year old African Marine & General Engineering Co Ltd of Kenya. However, Djibouti’s shipyard will have the capacity to repair ships with 50,000dwt (dead weight), while its contender in Mombassa handles only up to 12,000dwt.

“We have wanted to build this yard for the past five years,” Aboubaker told Fortune.

Djibouti is at the heart of the Europe-Far East sea route, the second of the three largest routes in the world, apart from the Pacific and North Atlantic routes. An average of 90 large and medium size vessels, operated by liners such as Maersk and MSE, sail on this route, carrying around six million units of containers a year. This is projected to grow by an annual rate of 10pc.

The country wants to claim 50pc of this annual traffic in transhipment container logistics, thus committing, in the next three years, a 1.54 billion-dollar investment in expanding its existing port facilities and building new ones, according to Aboubaker, who was here in Addis Abeba for two days late last week.

He came here to promote these projects, including the creation of a new free zone, Jaban-us Free Zone, on a 57ht plot, 12km west of Djibouti Town. It will cost an estimated 30 million dollars, Aboubaker disclosed.

The government of Djibouti has plans to launch the second phase of the Doraleh Port development at a cost of 330 million dollars and convert the old Djibouti Port to a general cargo facility, at a projected cost of 88.5 million dollars, while expanding the newly built oil terminal at the Port of Doraleh at a cost of 150 million dollars, upgrading the facility’s storage capacity by 30pc.

There are also three plans on the drawing board to build brand new ports, including a livestock port, handing two million head, annually, in the south of Djibouti at a projected cost of 50 million dollars; in Goubet (the central part of Djibouti) to support a 4.5 million-tonne salt export, which could cost 55 million dollars; and the Port of Tajourah, one of the closest sea gates to landlocked Ethiopia, to be built at a projected cost of 85 million dollars.

The Port of Tajourah is designed to facilitate a prospective annual export of 4.5 million tonnes of potash from Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government has granted a concession over a 481sqkm area in the Danakil Depression, Afar Regional State, to the Ethiopian Potash Corp, a Canadian firm based in Toronto, which began drilling in May 2011. This extreme north-eastern part of the country contains a reserve of 128 million tonnes of the resource at 21pc potash component, geologists believe.

Both governments have contracted out road building projects from the quarry to the port. The Ethiopian part is constructed by the Defence Construction Enterprise.

“We have mobilised close to 60pc of the financing to pay for all these projects,” Aboubaker told Fortune.

The financing to pay for the construction of the shipyard, which is still under development, comes partly from the Djiboutian government and half from private investors in Europe and India. Their identities, however, remain confidential, and Aboubaker declined to disclose them.

However, the final deal is due by February 2012, and the launching of construction after three months, according to Aboubaker. The design and feasibility studies to justify the project are developed by one of the partners, which is a European company.

source: addisfortune

Reporter has found from Sources in the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTAC) that the recruitement process is still underway meaning that Ambachew Abraha may still be appoined in days to come. On being asked regarding the chances of his appointment Ato Ambachew Abreha has indicated that he is presently attending to affairs in his previous office and declined to make further comment.

Alemu Ambaye Sebhatu has been appointed as the director of the enterprise. The chief engineer was in charge of fleet management at the now defunct Ethiopian Shipping Lines S.C. . Ewnetu Taye who was the acting general manager of the Ethiopian Dry Ports Enterprise from its inceptionis now the head of the Secretariat;  Eyasu Yimam who was Ethiopian Shipping Lines ‘s  Corporate Planning & IT Director is now heading the Dry Ports department. Ethiopian Maritime Transit Services previous head, Ahmed Yassin was selected to fill the deputy managing director post.

According to sources in MOTAC management,  the majority of staff who as yet have not been appointed to the immense enterprise have been temporarily hired and such continue to draw their previous salaries.

source: ethiopianreporter.com

Company’s Managing Directorate Representative, Yared Shiferaw, Logistics Manager Biruk Dagne and also Shipping Logistics Management Director Kalayu Tessema said in a joint statement they made here on Friday that the service would help private importers save time and energy.

The Company is currently acting as a multimodal transport operator and has started rendering multimodal transport service up to Modjo and Semera Dry Ports.

The officials said it has been providing the service to government development enterprises, NGOs and international organizations since the past two years.

They said the Company has signed different agreements with the Djibouti Clearing Forwarding Association, the Dry Port Service Enterprise and Trucking Companies, among others, prior to commencement of the service .

Cost of the service will not be more than that of the cost, which was paid earlier for a unimodal transport service, they said, adding, the multimodal transport service will also help to reduce rent paid for stores in Djibouti Port.

In order to give the service it has sub-contracted forwarding agents at Djibouti and trucking companies for in land transport up to Modjo and Semera Dry Ports.

In addition to the bilateral agreement between the two governments there is an agreement signed between the two Customs Authorities, namely the transit protocol agreement.

Multimodal transport is the transportation of goods under a single contract but performed with at least to different means of transport i.e. the carrier is liable for the entire carriage even though it is performed with several different means of transport e.g. rail, sea and road, according to a press release issued by the company.

Yigzaw Mekonnen, director general of EPE and Mekonnen Abera, head of market research and business promotion of the Ethiopian Shipping & Transit Services Enterprise, (EMTSE) were in Djibouti last week discussing the terms of the deal with Aboubaker Omar Hadi, the chairman of the Port.

This comes three weeks after Mekonnen Manyazewal, minister of industry (MoI), wrote a letter requesting Ethiopian Maritime & Transit Service Enterprise (EMTSE) and Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL) to prepare transportation and port facilities for the unloading of coal to be imported by the EPE.

The two countries have agreed on the general terms of import and are drafting the contract to be signed in November, according to Mekonnen.

It has been a few months since the EPE has been looking for alternative sources of fuel to replace the Heavy Furnace Oil currently in use. Their initial plan to use Pet Coke was unsuccessful due to supply and cost issues.

A task force composed of ESL, MTSE and five major cement factories, along with MoI, have considered the possible import of coal from other countries based on geographical proximity and institutions capable of importing at competitive prices. Based on their assessments, South Africa has been found to be a suitable destination to import from, considering South Africa has coal with a caloric degree of 6,300, which is suitable for cement factories.

With intentions and plans to have cement factories start using coal as soon as possible, institutions have been scrambling, trying to accomplish specific tasks assigned to them, within three months time.

The MoI has been collecting information from cement factories on how much cement is demanded in a year. Accordingly, it has found that, with the exception of Mugher and East Cement factories, the remaining factories in operation require 896,500tn of cement for this year.

Out of the twelve operational cement factories, the highest amount of coal is consumed by Messebo and Derba Midroc which have the capacity of producing 2.1 and 2.3 million tonnes of cement on a yearly basis, consuming 22,000tn of coal each.

However, as some of the cement factories have coal in stock from previous imports, the MoI is assessing these matters in order to determine how much coal to import. The EPE, which has been tasked with preparing the necessary human resources and budget for the import of coal, is also to look for companies to supply the product from South Africa up on floating an international tender.

The task force has discovered, through assessments, that it will cost 207.30 dollars for one tonne of coal to be transported from South Africa.

Source: addisfortune

During the last quarter of the 2009/10 fiscal year alone, it made an unprecedented profit of 641.3 million Br, which is 154pc of its projection for that fiscal year. It has also exceeded its projected plan by 56 million Br.

ESL, which is administered by the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA), transported a total of 2.2 million tonnes of goods in the same year, less than its projection of 2.5 million tonnes.

ESL is currently operating with eight vessels with a combined carrier capacity of 150,000tn, and uses the Port of Djibouti as its base. It provides linear services to specified ports abroad on a regular sailing schedule, and plans to increase its carriage capacity to 400,000tn by bringing nine additional vessels from China which has also financed the purchase with 293 million dollars.

Importing, which accounts for the majority of freight operation, involved the transpor of 1.7 million tonnes, performing less than its target to transport 2.3 million tonnes of cargo in 2010/11.

During the 2009/10 fiscal year, around 2.5 million tonnes were transported, seven per cent above its projection, showing an increase of 305,438tn from the 2008/09 fiscal year.

ESL, the only local company involved in sea freight activities in the country, and sole multimodal transport operator (MTO), is responsible for the transportation of much of the country’s imports and exports of cargo.

Dry port facilities launched in Modjo Town, Oromia Regional State,76Km south from Addis Abeba; and Semera, Afar Regional State, 592Km northeast of the capital, transported 44pc of shipments from the country’s total import and export goods during the 2010/11 fiscal year. This is a 56pc decrease in shipments when compared with last year.

“Although the volume of goods transported has not increased, the income has increased in part because of the way ESL charges its clients by taking volume as well as weight into account,” Ambachew Abreha, managing director of ESL told Fortune.

“Whichever measurement, tonnage or volume, that brings more cash will be considered when making payment charges,” he said.

The system allowed importers to enter into a contract with ESL for the latter to bring the shipment to Djibouti Port, processing all requirements of clearance at the port and then delivering it to the dry ports of Modjo and Semera.

The ESL cargo operation revenue, including the multimodal transport arrangement, earned ESL revenue amounting to 4.6 billion Br, while administration and operation costs amounted to around 3.6 billion Br ate into its profits, which amounted to 661 million Br.

ESL, which required payments in dollars replacing the old local currency payment in July 20, 2010, imported 26pc of goods from China, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India covered 12pc and 15pc of imports, respectively.

During the 2010/11 fiscal year, exports reached 468,019tn, exceeding its target of 237,784tn. Most of these exports went to the Gulf states and the Far East.

Ambachew is satisfied with ESL’s performance, which reached 85pc of its target for cargo shipments, and is looking forward to an improved performance when ESL acquires nine new vessels.

Source: addisfortune

In an unexpected move, the government of Djibouti has announced on July 2, 2011, the appointment of a former senior manager of the Port of Djibouti to head both the ports as well as freezones authorities of Djibouti.

Aboubaker Omar Hadi, former commercial director at DP World-Djibouti, and currently general director of a port in Lagos, Nigeria, will soon return to Djibouti as the chief of his county’s strategic assets, replacing Aden Doualeh as chairman. Many here and in Djibouti were surprised to learn this reshuffling at the governing bodies of the maritime agencies because Aboubaker had left Djibouti in August 2008, for West Africa, in what many of his colleagues and associates had said was a loss to his home port.

He was hired by Sifax Group, an international private maritime company jointly owned by Nigerians and Europeans, with its head office in Lagos, and branch offices in Ghana and the United States. Based in the commercial city of Nigeria, Aboubaker, a father of five, has been managing a port and a cargo-handling services company, a subsidiary of the Sifax conglomerate.

He has had 30 years of service at the Port of Djibouti, where he began work in the Marine Department and Port Control, being responsible for port documentation, in 1978. He was then promoted to deputy manager in the statistics department. Later on, he became General Cargo Manager, Container Terminal Manager, and in the past decade a commercial director of the port.

He had won recognition during this period, where he played part in enhancing Ethiopia’s use of the port from 15pc to 90pc.

“I am very pleased to learn that he is back,” said Ambachew Abreha, managing director of the Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL), one of the largest customers of the ports in Djibouti. “He is not only a professional person with proven records, but also understands the biggest market for the ports. He is a positive force for the relationship between Ethiopia and Djibouti.”

Born in Dikhil, a town about 100km from the border with Ethiopia, Aboubaker was one of the first port officials to come to Addis Abeba in the early 1990s, in a bid to market his country’s maritime assets as Ethiopia’s “natural outlet to the sea,” a couple of years before the start of the Ethio-Eritrean war. He was credited for playing a major role in the years following Ethiopia’s complete shift to the Port of Djibouti, after 1998.

He was also one of the key figures in Djibouti in the process to develop new oil and container terminals at Douraleh, 13km from the existing port, which consumed half a billion dollars.

Aboubaker received his first degree in ports and multimodal transport from Le Conservatoire Nationale des Arts et Métiers, in France, and postgraduate studies in ports and shipping administration from the World Maritime University of Sweden, in 1992, the same school where Ambachew attended seven years earlier.

Aboubaker will soon take the helm at the authorities that are regulating three of Djibouti’s ports and the freezones. The largest port, Douraleh, is now operated by Horizon Djibouti, a joint venture company of DP World (60pc) and the government of Djibouti (40pc).

Unavailable for comment last week, Aboubaker went back to Lagos in order to resign from Sifax, and will return to Djibouti in two weeks, according to close sources.

source: addisfortune.com

A tender the enterprise had floated in February 2011 for the importation and installation of the machinery has been awarded to ETMAR Co, a local company.

A total of three reach stackers, seven heavy-duty forklifts, electric pressure washers, garage machinery, and fire prevention equipment were imported by ETMAR from Terex Cranes, a French heavy-duty vehicle manufacturer.

The machinery, which arrived at Djibouti Port last week, is the first purchase made by the EDPSE, a public enterprise that was established in 2007 with a capital of 500 million Br. Previously, it rented machinery and equipment from Comet Transport, a government owned transport company.

It has decided to acquire its own equipment in a bid to increase the speed and efficiency as well as the capacity of the dry ports, according to Ashebir Mota, senior public relations officer for the enterprise.

The reach stackers, high-powered mobile trucks with a telescopic lifting arm are used in small to medium sized ports, each have the capacity to hold up to 45tn and together cost the enterprise a little over 34 million Br, according to Ashebir.

One of the three will be used at Semera Dry Port, located 592km northeast of Addis Abeba, to load imports and exports as well as pile containers on each other, he claimed.

Two of the forklifts will also by stationed at Semera, while the remaining machinery is to be used at Modjo Dry Port, located 76km southeast of the capital.

The initial construction of Modjo and Semera dry ports was completed in September 2008 and October 2009, respectively, at a total cost of 54 million Br.

However, both ports are in the process of expanding.

The EDPSE, established to develop and operate the country’s dry ports through a multimodal transport system (MTS), plans to expand Modjo Dry port by 2018, according to its Master Plan.

The enterprise has earmarked 254 million Br of its own funds and loans amounting to 229 million Br from Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) for the construction of a container terminal at Modjo Dry Port.

Around 45pc of the construction work has been completed.

Upon completion, the port’s container handling capacity will stand at 110,373, up from 28,280 containers, and will include terminals for perishable goods, according to the official summery of EDPSE’s activities.

“Aside from local dry port services, it would also reduce the number of days imports remain in sea ports of neighbouring countries from an average of 40 days to 10 days,” he told Fortune.

Semera Dry Port currently occupies 162ht of land and is undertaking its own expansion based on a master plan at a cost of more than 15 million Br. Upon the completion of the expansion, the port would have the capacity to warehouse an additional 3,000tn of cargo on 1,000sqm.

The EDPSE, which currently employs more than 178 permanent staff members, plans to increase the number of dry ports in the country, according to the public relations officer.

These ports are planned in Dire Dawa, Jijjiga, Bahir Dar, and Woreta towns to reduce the costs of importing and exporting, shorten transit time, and save foreign currency in not paying warehousing fees at those ports, Ashebir explained.

Source: Addisfortune

A ministerial visit to Dubai has been scheduled to discuss the modality of the divorce, according to sources who say that there may be a possible extension of the date set by the Authority.

Meanwhile, business has been continuing as usual, and this has not had any immediate effect on the services the Port of Djibouti is giving to its clients.

Why the PAID wishes to end the contract is not clear, but many say that the Authority may be unhappy with the promises that it felt were not fully delivered by DPWorld.

In June 2000, the government of Djibouti and DPWorld signed a 20 year contract to manage the Port of Djibouti facilities, which was later extended. During that period of cooperation, the initiative of a new port construction emerged in November 2006, and since then the cooperation has evolved into a venture that led to the realization of Doraleh Port that will also be managed by DPWorld.

The new Doraleh Port includes a container and an oil terminal. This is a USD 450 million venture where the government of Djibouti owns two thirds and DPWorld one third.

During this period of cooperation, other ventures such as the magnificent five-star Kempinski Hotel have been created by another subsidiary of Dubai World, Nakheel Hotels.

It is in this period that President Ismail Omar Guelleh was once quoted as saying “Since our partnership with Dubai our country has become open. We see people coming to invest in banking, insurance and free zone companies.”

The Doraleh Container Terminal has now doubled its services growing from a mere 400,000 TEUs in October last year to 800,000 TEUs per annum today. Doraleh terminal has a capacity to handle 1.2 million TEU (twenty foot equivalent container units) annually, the largest and most modern container terminal in East Africa.

At his inaugural ceremony held on May 8th, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh pledged in his speech to focus on developing workers’ skills during what he said will be his final term, aiming to transform one of Africa’s smallest countries into a Red Sea hub.

“We will opt for targeted training, tailored for the real needs of our economy both nationally and regionally. Our aim is to eventually make Djibouti a regional business platform, combining logistics, industry and finance.”

Djibouti relies on services related to its strategic location on the Red Sea as being one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes; the nation’s port provides the best access to the sea for Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation.

Djibouti’s economy has grown at an average of five percent annually over the past five years, the International Monetary Fund says. “The expansion has been spurred by projects including a new container terminal built by DP World Ltd, the government, and Nakheel PJSC’s construction of a five-star hotel, Kempinski, which has boosted tourism,” states the IMF. Growth is expected to be 4.8 percent this year and 5.7 percent in 2012, according to the IMF’s statement.

Since 1998, the port handles 100% of Ethiopia’s maritime traffic, which moves to and from Addis Ababa mostly by truck. To accommodate this important business, PAID has made an additional 20 hectares of dry yard area available.
DP World is the world’s third largest container terminal operator, which operates 49 container terminals in 28 countries including the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and Latin America and is seen as one of the more profitable units of Dubai World, its parent company.

In the first quarter of 2011, DP World’s gross volume grew by 12 percent year on year to 12.6 million TEU’s across its 49 operational terminals.

Today, Djibouti is emerging as one of the most important gateways for trade to the African continent, offering excellent port facilities for import, export, trans-shipment, and onward connections by road, rail, and air. The port of Djibouti is ideally located to serve the COMESA market, linking 19 countries and 380 million people.