BLG LOGISTICS provides answers to the question of how humanitarian aid gets to people
In October 2022, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and BLG LOGISTICS signed a standby partnership agreement in order to be able to send experts from the seaport and logistics service provider to WFP missions. BLG is now one of 28 WFP partner organizations worldwide.
With this contract, the international humanitarian institution affirms the importance of the numerous operations by BLG LOGISTICS over the past ten years in the fight against hunger. More than twenty missions took representatives of the logistics service provider BLG to the poorest areas of the world. In doing so, they always pursued a clear goal: to use their logistics expertise in the fight against hunger. On site, the BLG port experts Wolf Lampe and Ferdinand Möhring got an idea of ​​the accessibility, infrastructure, equipment and degree of organization of the seaports and estimated handling and storage capacities. After each trip, they summarized their recommendations for the organization, which ultimately benefit not only the ports themselves, but above all the people in the crisis regions.
THE 21ST MISSION WENT TO NORTHEAST AFRICA
The main task of the last mission was to assess the access corridor to Ethiopia. With around 120 million inhabitants, the East African country is the most populous landlocked country in the world. The population growth in the traditionally rural environment is very fast. At the same time, there is often a lack of elementary infrastructure. The population is mainly supplied via the ports of Djibouti.
Ethiopia itself does not have its own access to the sea. The country on the Horn of Africa borders Eritrea, which has been independent from Ethiopia since 1993. Since then, the ports of Assab and Massawa have also belonged to Eritrea. As a result, Ethiopia’s economy is dependent on the ports in Djibouti. For several years, however, the port of Berbera in Somaliland has also been increasingly involved in trade with Ethiopia.
A MODEL CORRIDOR BETWEEN DJIBOUTI AND ETHIOPIA
The deep water port of Djibouti is a transit and transshipment point for trade in goods between Europe, the Far East, the Persian Gulf and East Africa. And it is the central hub for cargo in and out of Ethiopia. The port is therefore crucial for the smooth flow of humanitarian aid, such as food. In the last three years alone, nearly four million tons of relief supplies have passed through Djibouti.
In the last 20 years, the logistical corridor between Djibouti and Ethiopia has developed very well. Today it is a corridor with many unique selling points that are worth taking a closer look at.
The infrastructure of the ports of Djibouti, especially that of the terminals in Doraleh, is well developed and corresponds to the world standard. In Djibouti City there is a container terminal and a multi-purpose terminal. The container terminal with its eight gantry cranes can handle ships up to around 15,000 TEU. Four more cranes are planned for handling ships with 24,000 TEU. West of the container terminal, the Doraleh multipurpose port has ten derricks. These are special cranes with a retractable boom. There are also four additional gantry cranes in the container terminals, which complement the container terminal and can also serve all types of heavy lift and bulk carriers.
Transport links between Addis Ababa and Djibouti are highly developed. Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia and home to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the headquarters of the African Union. In addition to the road, there is a railway connection from the port in Djibouti City to Addis Ababa. The Ethio-Djibouti Railway connects the ports with Ethiopia through the Nagad Station consolidation point to Addis Ababa. The Chinese-built railway corridor is fully electrified and serves a total of 21 stations. The transit time to Addis Ababa is 18 hours. If necessary, several so-called dry ports are served.
In addition, the port in Djibouti City has an effective data communication system. The database provides data on freight movements and handling activities to registered and affiliated actors. Some information is even transmitted in real time. This is unique in East Africa. In addition to the purely port-related data, goods transport on the main road towards Ethiopia is also recorded.
HUB FOR HUMANITARIAN AID HANDLING
The packaging line in the port of Djibouti has 28 strands. It can fill 30 sacks of grain per minute.
In order to improve the efficiency of both humanitarian and commercial logistics, the Government of Djibouti and WFP have established a Humanitarian Logistics Base (HLB) near the port. The storage capacities are unique in the world. HLB has huge grain silos, highly effective packaging systems and its own fleet of trucks.
ALSO LOOK FOR ALTERNATIVE ROUTES
Commercial throughput for the rapidly expanding Ethiopian market and sustained high levels of food aid are placing a significant strain on Djibouti’s port and transport sectors. This additional load can quickly lead to bottlenecks and traffic jams. The political uncertainty in the region is also a reason to keep an eye out for alternatives. And there is.
A classic multi-purpose terminal is located in the port of Berbera.
The port of Berbera is the starting point of a second corridor that is developing well. Berbera is located in Somaliland. Under international law, Somaliland is part of Somalia. In practice, however, it is independent. It unilaterally declared independence on May 18, 1991, when the Somali government had been overthrown and the civil war in Somalia was escalating. Since then it has largely preserved its political stability and taken steps towards democratization. The Port of Berbera in Somaliland has been developed into a modern multi-purpose facility by the Somaliland government and port operator Dubai Ports World (DPW). The road corridor to the Ethiopian border via Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, is in excellent condition. However, there is no rail connection, such as between Djibouti and Ethiopia.
PORT ANALYSIS REVEALS THE DECISIVE INDICATORS FOR SUCCESSFUL TRANSPORT OF AID GOODS
Ferdinand Möhring analyzed the infrastructure of the ports of Djibouti-City, Doraleh and Tadjoura (Djibouti) as well as Berbera (Somaliland), taking into account the modal connections to the hinterland, and identified the unique selling points of the corridor. The corridor between the ports in Djibouti and Addis Ababa provides important indicators with the help of which the performance of the ports can be described. The numerous positive properties of the corridor will serve as a benchmark for the successful transport of aid supplies in the future.