Djibouti affirms its position as a world-class commercial and logistics hub
A year ago, on February 22nd 2018, the State of Djibouti prematurely terminated the concession for the Doraleh container port, awarded in 2006 to Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT), a company essentially controlled by DP World, a minority shareholder.
A year after the termination, motivated by the country’s development imperatives and the necessity to control its strategic infrastructure, the Doraleh container terminal has established itself as an efficient structure, operated by a wholly publicly owned Djiboutian company, SGTD, which works for the public interest. And this, despite the “fake news” campaigns, the multiplication of legal proceedings, and other attempts by DP World to intimidate the Djibouti State and its strategic partners.
Located at the mouth of the Bab el Mandeb Strait, at the intersection of the world’s main trade routes, the port clearly has multiple vocations: to serve its region, and in particular its Ethiopian sister nation, while positioning itself as a major transshipment platform, in direct alignment with Asia.
In early February, before members of the US Senate Committee on Armed Forces, General Thomas Waldhauser, Commander-in-Chief of AFRICOM (United States Africa Command), pointed out that the Doraleh container port had provided better services since DP World’s departure. He also stated that the Republic of Djibouti, through the logistical and strategic platforms that it provides American forces in the region and in Africa, was an important strategic partner of the United States.
However, Djibouti’s ambitions extend beyond the port of Doraleh. The container terminal is one of the cornerstones of an ambitious national development project: to make Djibouti a major commercial and logistics hub between Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. In addition to Doraleh’s development, a new multi-purpose port was set up on the same site (DMP, May 2017) and the Goubet and Tadjourah ports were opened (June 2017). Boosting this expansion even more is the new free zone, expected to be the largest in Africa (opened in July 2018), and the launch of the new rail link between Djibouti and Addis Ababa>
> A year after the termination, motivated by the country’s development imperatives and the necessity to control its strategic infrastructure, the Doraleh container terminal has established itself as an efficient structure, operated by a wholly publicly owned Djiboutian company, SGTD, which works for the public interest. And this, despite the “fake news” campaigns, the multiplication of legal proceedings, and other attempts by DP World to intimidate the Djibouti State and its strategic partners.
Located at the mouth of the Bab el Mandeb Strait, at the intersection of the world’s main trade routes, the port clearly has multiple vocations: to serve its region, and in particular its Ethiopian sister nation, while positioning itself as a major transshipment platform, in direct alignment with Asia.
In early February, before members of the US Senate Committee on Armed Forces, General Thomas Waldhauser, Commander-in-Chief of AFRICOM (United States Africa Command), pointed out that the Doraleh container port had provided better services since DP World’s departure. He also stated that the Republic of Djibouti, through the logistical and strategic platforms that it provides American forces in the region and in Africa, was an important strategic partner of the United States.
However, Djibouti’s ambitions extend beyond the port of Doraleh. The container terminal is one of the cornerstones of an ambitious national development project: to make Djibouti a major commercial and logistics hub between Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. In addition to Doraleh’s development, a new multi-purpose port was set up on the same site (DMP, May 2017) and the Goubet and Tadjourah ports were opened (June 2017). Boosting this expansion even more is the new free zone, expected to be the largest in Africa (opened in July 2018), and the launch of the new rail link between Djibouti and Addis Ababa
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