Djibouti to spend $330M on port expansion

Djibouti to spend $330M on port expansion

Djibouti’s port, run by Dubai’s DP World, plans to spend $330 million on expanding its port, an exercise that is expected to be complete by 2014 and to increase the cargo throughput, its port authority said.

October 11, 2011 10:36 by Reuters

Dubai’s DP World is the lifeblood of Djibouti’s economy.

Djibouti serves as a port for its landlocked neighbour Ethiopia, which accounts for about 70 percent of traffic.

Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of the Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority, said in a statement issued on Sunday that the money will go towards the construction of a quay and container handling equipment at its Doraleh terminal.

Hadi said they planned to launch a tender for the works in early 2012. Upon completion, the expanded port will be capable of handling 3 million containers a year from an estimated 800,000 at the end of fiscal 2011 and the one million containers by mid-2012.

Djibouti hosts France’s largest military base in Africa plus a major US base, and the port is used by foreign navies patrolling busy shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia to fight piracy. (Reporting by Abdourahim Arteh; Editing by George Obulutsa)