ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE) said it is eyeing ways to advance transport, customs and banking system in a bid to transport commodities on time and reduce huge traffic jam on Ethio-Djibouti line.
ESLSE Communication Director Ashebir Nota told The Ethiopian Herald that the country has to come up with some sorts of solutions to advance the transport and customs systems that trigger delay on carriage goods from the port of Djibouti.
He said that currently there is a massive traffic on the Ethio-Djibouti highway due to the importation of agricultural inputs mainly accounts about 1.5 million cube fertilizers.
However, most of the time the road to the port is not at good condition due to load so that it needs rehabilitation to advance fast mobility, he noted.
On the other hand, there is also shortage of trucks to transport goods from the port to the country despite the enterprise endeavor to install all 450 vehicles from import-export associations, as to him.
By the same token, the Ethio-Djibouti train transports two times a day loading a total of 212 containers. Such loading capacity is not that much supportive in transporting the imported goods as fast as possible, he stated.
Therefore, advancing infrastructure and transporting mediums is a must to save the country from extra cost for port and delay of products and inputs, as to Ashebir.
According to him, the country pays one dollar with double interest rate per day for each container at the port regardless of the eight days relief to elevate containers. Therefore, the cost is very high since the nation is a landlocked country that uses the Djibouti port as a main door to its massive importing goods, he mentioned.
Accordingly, elevating containers on time is essential to reduce cost on port, speed up development projects and meet public needs, Ashebir recommended. To this end, rehabilitating the road, importing latest trucks, enhancing the rail transport and advancing the customs and banking services in the area is a must, he underlined.
The Ethiopian herald may 26/2020
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
