Berbera Port News

P&O Maritime Logistics (P&OML), the marine services arm of global port operator DP World, has taken delivery of a Sanmar Shipyards-built tug for the DP World managed Berbera Port on behalf of Somaliland Port Authority (SPA). The M JEEX (ex. Dogancay XXV) arrived Berbera Port under P&OML management and crew on September 10, 2020. The delivery follows a previous purchase from Sanmar, the EGAL (ex. Dogancay XXVI), delivered in the summer of 2018.Powered by a pair of Caterpillar 3212B diesel engines (two 1…

Somalia has banned Dubai ports operator DP World from operating in Somalia, saying that a contract that the company signed last year with the breakaway Somaliland region to develop an economic zone is null and void. It is unclear how Somalia's federal government could enforce the ban given Somaliland's semi-autonomous status. But parliament's unanimous passing of the resolution banning DP World from working in the country underscored growing rivalries in the strategic Horn of Africa region over the Dubai state-owned port operator's investments.

United Arab Emirates-based maritime conglomerate DP World has announced that Ethiopia will become a shareholder of the Port of Berbera in Somaliland, a crucial site for Middle Eastern trade, strategically located along the oil route. As the biggest shareholder of the port of Berbera, DP World announced that it would hold 51 percent stake of the project, the Somalis, 30 percent, and Ethiopia, the remaining 19 percent. The government of Ethiopia will also invest in infrastructure to develop the Berbera Corridor as a trade gateway for the inland country, which is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. There are also plans to construct an additional berth at the Port of Berbera…

DP World has reached an agreement to manage the Berbera port in Somaliland, which would allow it to become a major hub for goods to transit to and from the Horn of Africa, the Wall Street Journal reported. DP World signed a US$442 million agreement with the government of Somaliland to develop and operate a regional trade and logistics hub at the Port of Berbera. Under the terms of the deal, the newspaper citing a person who has seen the document, Somaliland will grant the Dubai-based company the right to manage the Red Sea port of Berbera for 30 years. DP World is bullish on Africa and will expand further across the continent following a deal to create a new gateway in Somaliland, on its eastern coast.

Somaliland expects to choose a partner to develop and manage its Berbera port by the end of the year, with construction expected to start early next year, the breakaway territory's foreign minister said on Wednesday. Mohamed Behi Yonis said the state, which broke away from Somalia in 1991 but is not internationally recognised, was in talks with France's Bollore, the Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company and Dubai's DP World. "Those are the three major port management companies that are interested in developing the port. We have been discussing with all of them," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an African Development Bank meeting in Ivory Coast. "We have not made up our minds. We're looking at all options," he added.

Ethiopia is to start using the Port of Berbera of Somaliland this month on an agreement reached between the two countries on January 29, 2015, while the use of Port Sudan has started by the importation of 50,000tn of fertilizer. Ethiopia is distributes its cargo among neighboring countries’ ports as the country needs alternative ports aside that of Djibouti. Workeneh Gebeyehu, Minister for Transport, said, “Five to 10pc of the country’s imports are planned to come through the port of Berbera, and we will be looking for proper ports for different areas of the country.” “But the Port of Djibouti continues to be the major one,” he added. Ethiopia had expressed its dependence on Port Djibouti as a concern when it issued a one billion dollar sovereign bond in October 2014.