Plans afoot to boost efficiency of ports

The Eritrean government has commissioned an extensive study into the commercial potential of Assab, the country's second-largest port after Massawa.

Starting next month, a team of US-based consultants will assess how to upgrade the port and its facilities to an international standard, so that it can become a regional hub for shipping in the Horn of Africa.

The government is hoping to attract Ethiopian and Sudanese regional and transit trade, lost during the recent border conflict with Ethiopia. Before the war, most of the cargo that came through Assab was coming to or from Ethiopia, which has no direct access to the Red Sea. However, when the border dispute began in 1998 Ethiopia switched to nearby Djibouti.

After years of war, persuading Ethiopia to use the port again will be a challenge but the government believes that Assab has many natural advantages.

“It is very close to major shipping lanes and its position at the mouth of the southern Red Sea gives it a competitive edge,” said Ibrahim Said, Director General at the Department of Maritime Transport, who is overseeing the project. “It is better connected to Addis Ababa than other ports in the region and also accessible from the southern part of the Sudan. But a lot of things will need to be developed and improved. It will be a challenge.”

Plans to rehabilitate Assab are part of a larger project to improve both of Eritrea’s commercial ports to make them more competitive and efficient. The ports are considered an important part of the Eritrean economy and their commercial success is vital for the country’s future development.

The Ports Rehabilitation Project (PRP), which will cost US $56.7 million, is being funded partly by a loan from the World Bank, but also through grants from the Italian and Eritrean governments.

Work at Massawa, currently the country's busiest port, is ongoing. Since the project began a modern container terminal has been constructed, berths have been expanded and deepened, unloading facilities upgraded and communications improved.

Next week, Dutch specialists - Amsterdam Port Consultants - will begin a two-year project to streamline bureaucracy at Massawa, to make landing, clearing and unloading a faster process. At present up to 240 forms need to be filled out for every ship unloading cargo at the port. The aim is to reduce this number to eight or 10 forms as soon as possible.

There are also plans to rebuild and widen the two historic causeways that link Massawa’s port to the mainland. The causeways, built over 100 years ago, are in a poor state of repair. Massawa suffered extensive damage during Eritrea’s 30-year war of independence from Ethiopia, but, like Assab, it has a number of strategic advantages. It lies only 100 km east of Asmara, the country’s capital, and has the largest natural deep-water harbour in the region.

The government is pleased with the progress that has been made at Massawa, where the PRP’s improvements have already been translated into increased productivity and efficiency. But it acknowledges that the task of turning Assab - which lies at the tip of Eritrea’s remote Southern Red Sea region - into an international sea port, will be a longer term project. However it is optimistic that the port will become busy again.

“Now we have reached the end of the political complications with our neighbour there is no reason why we cannot do business again,” said Ibrahim Said. “Politics may dictate for a short time, but in the end it’s a question of economics.”